business, career, children, entrepreneurship, fear, rejection

My Year of Hopefulness – Fear #2 of entrepreneurship

Christa Avampato

“No one will want the product or service my business produces.”

This is the #2 fear of entrepreneurship for me, the second in a series that I’m doing after being inspired by Gary Novosel, Founder of The Food Medic. In our interview, he gave a piece of advice that really resonated with me: if you’re afraid of starting your business, write all your fears down, and then put them aside. So here we go, fear #2 – no one will want what I’m trying to sell.

Isn’t that the age old story of rejection – people won’t like me, I won’t be good enough, or, the worst – I won’t be relevant. What I say and think and do will not matter and no one will care. Ouch – painful ideas and thoughts that we work very hard to suppress, and yet at least at one moment of weakness in our lives, we’ve all felt them.

One of the fun things of starting a business and making a product or service is continuous improvement. The enemy of good is perfection – so don’t wait perfection to get the idea out the door. If you do, that product will never see the light of day. You’ll tweak and tweak and tweak, until someone else beats you to the punch and puts together a similar idea.

And what’s the very worst that can happen? People won’t by what we make, we’ll get feedback, change the product, and try again. Not so bad, right? Or maybe it’s just not reaching the right audience, or a wide enough audience. Or maybe it’s an idea that just needs time in order to b adopted by the market.

I was thinking about this fear all day today, wondering how I’d write this post and put it in perspective. As I rounded the corner toward my apartment this evening, a bunch of little kids ran up to me to drag me to their lemonade / cookie stand. For $0.10 I could get my choice of a cookie or a glass of lemonade, or for $0.20 I could get both. These kids did not have one bit of fear telling me about their business and the cost of the goods they were selling. I envied them.

I walked toward my apartment, happily eating my chocolate chip cookie, and honestly, it was the best cookie I’ve ever had. Entrepreneurship is alive and well among kids, so couldn’t we just model our own behavior after their fearlessness? It’s at least worth a try.

business, career, entrepreneurship, fear, money

My Year of Hopefulness – Putting fears aside

Christa Avampato

In yesterday’s post, Gary Novosel of The Food Medic gave the advice that all entrepreneurs should write down all the fears about starting their own business, and then put them aside. I really took his advice to heart as I have a lot of fears about starting my own business. As I reviewed my list I realized that it’s longer than I thought it was and that there are probably a lot of people who share the same fears.

To overcome fears we have to look our fears in the face and not blink. I really want to start my own venture, and the best way to answer these fears is to write them out and then write a remedy for each of them. Since these thoughts may be helpful to readers who are also interested in starting their own businesses, I wanted to write them as a series on this blog with the hope that I can replace fear with hope:

Fear #1: “I won’t make enough money.”

Start small and grow slowly. Whenever we begin something, we naturally wish for success in a big way. What seems more sustainable to me, and will likely generate more happiness, is a steady flame rather than a flash in the pan.

If we can keep a steady job while starting our own business on the side with our free time, that releases some financial fears. The trick is to be present at a job when we’re there, and present working on our business in our own time. I hear from a lot of entrepreneurs that they are frustrated that they can’t spend all their time on their business because they have to keep a day job. Finding a few nuggets of our job that inform our own business idea eases that frustration.

My friend, Dave, is interested in a portfolio approach to his career – a lot of different ventures that each earn a small amount of money and keep him interested and engaged. Entrepreneurs place a lot of pressure on themselves to earn all their income from a single business idea. That might work, or we might find that we’re happy earning a portion of our total income from a business venture, at least in the beginning.

Concern about earning enough money from my business laid to rest. Fear #2 for tomorrow: “No one will want the product or service my business produces.”

books, business, career, entrepreneurship, Examiner, health, technology

My Year of Hopefulness – The Food Medic

Christa Avampato

Today I am thrilled to publish a recent interview with Gary Novosel, Founder of The Food Medic. The Food Medic is a website that provides information of good nutrition’s ability to combat disease. On the site, Gary provides information on the health properties of specific skills, what foods have great benefit to combat specific diseases, and delicious recipes that are easy to prepare.

All of the interviews I do for Examiner.com really motivate me to work on my own business ideas. Gary’s story is one with real heart, so much so that I even found myself tearing up when he talked about several life-changing experiences that prompted him to start The Food Medic. He’s also written a cookbook to capture many of his insights and delicious recipes, appropriately titled The Food Medic Cookbook.

Gary’s journey is a wonderful lesson in the power of kismet and following your passion! He also has great advice for people who are interested in starting their own businesses. Check out my interview with Gary on Examiner.com by clicking here.

entrepreneurship, friendship, New York City

My Year of Hopefulness – When Good Ideas Surface

Christa Avampato

Yesterday I had coffee at Grounded with my friend, Dave. We’re both aspiring entrepreneurs who are figuring out when is the right time to make the leap, and considering what ventures would be best to start first. We talked about building a life that’s filled with a lot of different, small ideas and whether or not that’s better than getting all of our income from one single source. We considered how many of our extremely talented and motivated friends are looking for work due to the layoffs caused by the current recession. And then we hit upon an idea that could make use of many incredible people are out there looking for a job. Silence.

“Yeah. Maybe we should think about that. Maybe we could do something like that,” we said.

As we finished up our coffee and walked to the subway, we decided to write down some thoughts and send them back and forth to see if we could get our idea to work. What surprised me is that the idea seemed so good and so timely that we were both sort of stunned into silence. Is this the way with all good business ideas? Does it seem so obvious, so practical that we have to sit with it for a while and make sure it’s real? Could we be dreaming that we just got this idea in a coffee shop in Greenwich Village? Maybe it’s all too cliche. But then again, we’ll never know unless we try.

choices, decision-making, environment, family, future, garden, nature, time

My Year of Hopefulness – Stay on Path

Christa Avampato

At the Brooklyn Botanic Garden yesterday, Mom and I kept seeing these small wooden signs that said simply “Please Stay on Path”. As we talked about my life and career, we considered what my path might be and how I can shape it to encompass all of my interests and passions. We thought about all the different ways that we get distracted, what causes us to lose focus, and how we can regain our bearings.

Staying on path at the garden is much easier than it is in life. It’s easy to lose direction, to veer off our course, some times without even realizing exactly how it happened. Some opportunity seemed like something we wanted to follow or we had an experience that made us consider a different way forward. Sometimes these side trips are life changing for the better and sometimes our interest in these new pursuit fades as quickly as it appeared.

And then there’s the question of flexibility. We get new information all of the time and we want to make sure that we have enough flexibility to incorporate the relevant info into our plans. Think of it like our bones. We want our bodies to be flexible, though the strength of our bone structure makes all of our activities possible. Without the rigidity of our bones, we’d never go anywhere! A life road map provides the same kind support.

I’ve found very often that I make much better life choices when I am running toward something and not away from something. It’s the difference between looking forward and looking back, and making choices depending upon which of these actions has more say in our decisions. I like a good balance of both. I want to be informed by my past and not ruled by it. I want to be hopeful and excited about my future without sacrificing the wonderful things about the present.

There’s nothing that says a path has to be a straight shot. Mom and I wound through the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, explored the different routes, and trusted in a healthy dose of meandering. Our map helped to make sure that we didn’t miss things we really wanted to see and that we headed only down roads that interested us. We had our priorities of what we wanted to see, things that would be fun if we had time, and things that we’d prefer to skip. And we took time to smell the flowers along the way. We enjoyed being surprised by things around the bend. We let our senses guide us on some adventures to things we had missed on the map. It’s a beautiful metaphor for how to live life.

family, garden, health, holiday, mother, nature, New York City

My Year of Hopefulness – Mother’s Day

Christa Avampato

I took Mom to brunch and to the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens today for Mothers’ Day. It’s easy for her to hop on a train, I pick her up at Grand Central, and away we go. Though I love my family get-togethers it’s also fun to have my mom all to myself once in a while – something we had precious little of when I was younger.

All day I considered how Mom has shaped my life, how much I’ve learned from her, and how much comfort she’s given me over the years. We drive each other crazy from time to time also, though I think that’s more just the nature of mother-daughter relationships. I wouldn’t swap lives with my mom – she had a tough go of it for many, many years. She came of age in a time when women were starting to be treated with equality, though she endured many unfair circumstances that had nothing to do with her ability and everything to do with her gender. I know she lives vicariously through my accomplishments and I try to live up to that honor every day.

After dropping Mom at Grand Central so she could catch her train home, I hopped onto Facebook to see a note from my friend, Heidi, that she was spending the day celebrating the great lady who now watches over her from above. I reflected back on my day with Mom, thinking about how excited she was to smell the full scent of wisteria and see the azaleas in bloom at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. I’m so grateful for this time we have together – it’s one of the biggest reasons I came back to NYC. After my Mom’s cancer in 2006, I realized with a sad and painful awareness that she wouldn’t be with me forever, that someday I’d have to celebrate Mother’s Day the same way my friend, Heidi, did today.

For now though, Mom’s alive and kicking (or at least she will be kicking once she gets her new knee on June 1st) and time is of the essence. As we went up the escalator from the subway, my mom gave me a hug and thanked me so much for the day.

“You spent a lot of money, today, Christa.”

“That’s fine, Mom. I’m happy to be able to do it. It’s only money.”

And I meant it – it is only money, and I can always make more of it. I won’t always be able to get more time with Mom so we need to savor it while we can. Happy Mother’s Day to all!

change, schedule, time

My Year of Hopefulness – Time for Me

Christa Avampato

I am an over-scheduler. I am so worried about missing out on an opportunity that I routinely wear myself out with my scheduling. My sister, Weez, continually tells me that my weekends are busier than my workweek. She’s right. I’ve never learned the art of sitting still.

I marvel at my friend, Ken, who is so capable of carving out time just for himself to do whatever he wants depending on his mood and energy level. I’m so concerned with living up to expectations, put on me by myself and others, that I have a tough time scheduling Me time. And it’s critical – it’s something I’ve got to work on getting better at, particularly with my aspirations to start my own business at some point.

The calendar on my Palm is my best friend – it keeps going to the right place at the right time, always prepared. What I need to focus on in the next few months is using it as a tool to get more Time for Me. While I can be flexible if something wonderful arises, I need to make sure I am setting aside some time every week that is not scheduled – some time that is free to take shape based upon what the world has in-store for me and what I’d like to accomplish independent of any other opportunity.

It’s the 9th of May and I’m wondering where the first 4 months of 2009 went. I shouldn’t be wondering how that happened – my life should feel full but not stuffed. I should feel engaged with life but not overwhelmed by it. And I have the power to change that by putting aside the time to let myself relax, breath, and just be present, right here right now.

experience

My Year of Hopefulness – Awareness

Christa Avampato
“The art of awareness is the art of learning how to wake up to the eternal miracle of life with its limitless possibilities.” ~ Wilfred Peterson

Today, I was painfully unaware. I tripped out of my shoes twice on my way to work, had to go back into my house after getting halfway down the block because I realized I forgot my wallet, and by 4:00pm I wondered where on Earth the day went. I was hopeful this morning that a night of sleep had lifted my fog. Not today.

Bringing awareness to our lives amid tough circumstances is difficult. People insulate themselves from pain by building their own little world to live in. For a short time, that’s helpful. But as Ani DiFranco said, “Self-preservation is a full-time occupation,” and we can’t live in our own world on a full-time basis. If we want to survive and thrive, we eventually have to join the rest of the human race, aware of circumstances all around us, most of which are far beyond our control.

So how do we wake up without being scared half to death? The world is tough, especially now, and being aware can be terrifying. How can we curb the anxiety induced by being completely conscious of what’s going on around us? Even the idea of limitless possibilities can be overwhelming.

Here’s what I do to get back my awareness while also keeping myself calm:

1.) I focus on my breathe, my heartbeat, and the movement of my joints – things I typically don’t pay attention to. Recognizing the effort it takes to keep these things going makes me feel stronger.

2.) Consider that while there are limitless possibilities for my life, there are only certain things that I am good at and that I enjoy. If I overlay these two things over all the possibilities available to me, the list shrinks dramatically to a manageable number of options.

3.) Remember that many options are better than none.

4.) The flip side of awareness is ignorance, and ignorance is the thing I hate most in the world. I’d rather be aware and scared than ignorant and thoughtless.

5.) Those in history who have truly had an impact on the world are those who are keenly aware. My desire to have an impact is incredibly strong, and if the way to impact is awareness then I must take that road. My wish to make a difference is stronger than any of my fears.

change, death, family, friendship, legacy, time

My Year of Hopefulness – Our after-effect

Christa Avampato

Whenever I think about Penn, I imagine it to look like it did when I was there as a student. And every time I go back, I am always surprised to see how much it has changed. The place I imagine in my mind isn’t in the world anymore. Change happened without me.

My friend, Jamie, and I took a stroll along Battery Park at lunch time this week and a woman stopped us. She looked a little lost. “When does this park end?” she asked us. “I haven’t been in this neighborhood for 20 years and it looks completely different. This park wasn’t even here then!”

When we leave a place, we have a tendency to fix it in our minds. Even though we change and grow, we expect places we’ve been and people we’ve known to stay the same. It’s too much for us to imagine that life goes on without us.

Today I went to the funeral services for my Aunt Lorraine. She was a lovely lady that never forgot a birthday, an anniversary, or any other important occasion that involved her family members and friends. She lived a happy, long life, and I’m so glad that we had the opportunity to have her with us for so long.

On my drive home from the funeral, I kept looking at the clock, registering in my mind that all these minutes were unraveling, that I was traveling mile after mile, and my Aunt Rain wasn’t here with us anymore. Time went on, and we’ll all go on to make new memories even though she won’t be with us. And she’s going on without us, too.

I shed tears over the injustice of it all, of having to let go of people we love as a natural course of life. Change and time cannot be stopped. One day will fold into the next, whether or not we’re around. What changes because of our existence and the interaction we have in specific places with specific people is the how. How will one day become the next for me because I had my Aunt Lorraine as a role model? How does she live on in all of us even if she can’t be with us? And how do we want the world to go once our time has come and gone? This is really the only work that needs our attention.

The above images is from http://clock-desktop.com/screens/shiny_clock/palms-clock.jpg

business, entrepreneurship, fashion, retail

My Year of Hopefulness: Creative entrepreneur accessorizes jewelry with business

Christa Avampato

My friend, Laura Cococcia of Laura Reviews, did a terrific interview with an entrepreneur who proves that you can keep a day job while starting your own successful business. Johanna Ferguson began Rilee and Lo, an on-line jewelry retailer after noticing that she couldn’t find one place on-line to buy interesting, unique jewelry by individual designers at a reasonable price. She found a way to do what all successful start-ups do – turn a pain in the market into an opportunity.

This interview by Laura really inspired me to think about my life, and my work, in a very hopeful, positive way despite the downturn of the economy. I’m so pleased to have her as a guest blogger today! She is the author of “Laura Reviews,” a blog forum that features unique book reviews and article commentary as well as original author interviews. Cococcia is a freelance writer for various publications and a contributing author to Hungry Chicago (2009) and One to One B2B. She works full-time for Google, Inc. in its Chicago office and can be reached at laurareviews@gmail.com.

Johanna Ferguson was frustrated.

A consummate jewelry aficionado, Ferguson often found she’d have to go to multiple stores and Web sites to find the right jewelry pieces and designers to suit her styles. It took extra time and effort to simply do something she loved.

In August 2008, Ferguson solved her own problem. She launched “Rilee and Lo,” a one-stop shop that features jewelry from famous and emerging designers.

Ferguson explains the simple philosophy behind Rilee and Lo. “Jewelry can be worn whenever, with whatever, and can update your look and mood in a second,” she says. “We believe jewelry is the centerpiece of an outfit and should never be an afterthought.”

Ferguson also tends to be swayed by her mood when selecting pieces – hence, the birth of the Rilee and Lo personalities. Rilee represents the rocker glam persona, veering toward an edgy, urban, modern and funky style. Lo’s look is more feminine, bohemian, organic and chic. When she selects lines and pieces, Ferguson considers both Rilee’s and Lo’s style preferences.
I recently interviewed Ferguson to get a behind-the-scenes look at the entrepreneurial efforts behind Rilee and Lo, discussing what it takes to successfully launch a business that aligns so closely with one’s passions.

Laura Cococcia: You launched Rilee and Lo in late August 2008. How quickly has your customer base grown?

Johanna Ferguson: My customer base grows every month, which is so exciting to watch. I wanted Rilee and Lo to grow naturally, so it was a healthy, steady growth, which I could keep up with. I think the varied product mix and brands had a lot to do with Rilee and Lo’s growth; got the right brands in at the right time.

Laura Cococcia: What specific things have you done to get the Rilee and Lo word out to the marketplace?

Johanna Ferguson: My marketing efforts started small, which was intentional. I work full-time, so I needed to learn as my business was growing. Customer service is a huge part of the Rilee and Lo business and something we strive to be the best at, so again, we wanted to keep up with the growth.

In August, I sent emails to friends and family and launched a small Google AdWords campaign. In September, I included Yahoo! Ads in the mix and in October, I started formal email communications to my subscriber list. The holiday sales kept us busy; I focused on creating promotions that were relevant and fresh throughout the season.

I now work with a public relations manager and she’s done an amazing job landing press on fashion blogs, the Martha Stewart show, Kids Choice Awards and Glamour. She’s also helped grow the awareness of Rilee and Lo through Twitter.

Laura Cococcia: How is Rilee and Lo different from other Web sites that feature and sell designer accessories?

Johanna Ferguson. Rilee and Lo’s differentiates itself by offering a wide range of reasonably-priced, versatile and quality jewelry. Also, we focus both on established designers (Robert Lee Morris, CC SKYE, Maya Brenner, Adina Reyter) and new designers (Aviary, Iris Guy, and Fiona Paxton) to personify both Rilee’s and Lo’s styles.

Rilee and Lo will always be about accessories – we hope to add scarves and headbands soon – but there is a lot of jewelry we need to add before that time comes.

Laura Cococcia: Can you give us a sneak peek of where we’ll see Rilee and Lo featured in the near future?

Johanna Ferguson: The July cover of Glamour will feature Sandra Bullock wearing two Fallon pieces provided by Rilee and Lo. In fact, Bullock liked the Fallon bracelet so much and wanted to have it, so we sent it to her afterwards as a gift and she wore it to the Kids Choice Awards in late March.

I love to see others in jewelry from Rilee and Lo. It’s reassuring that people understand our Web site, like it, shop there, and want to see us bring more fantastic jewelry designers into the mix.
Laura Cococcia: What advice can you give other entrepreneurs looking to launch their own business, based on what they’re passionate about?

Johanna Ferguson: You learn so much doing this! There are some days when I’m so excited and others when I find it challenging, especially when you discover new competition. Of course, my goal is to grow Rilee and Lo into a national brand at some point in the future, but until then, it’s all about being patient and doing the work.

Finding new jewelry is something I love, and now it’s an integral, necessary part of my life and business. I can’t walk into a department store, boutique or museum without going straight to the jewelry. It’s a slight obsession, but it’s also my job.

My advice to other aspiring entrepreneurs: try, make a plan, execute it, be patient, and be ready to work on it every day.

Many thanks to Ferguson (and of course Laura!) for sharing her fresh entrepreneurial insights and experience. Rilee and Lo can be seen at http://www.rileeandlo.com/. Ferguson can be contacted at Johanna@RileeandLo.com.