(I Will) Make Mine A Million $ Business

Yesterday I attended the Make Mine a Million Dollar Business Race Kickoff - what a mouthful! It is part of Count Me In's programs for motivating women-business owners and it was sponsored by Sam's Club in Secaucus. It was held early in the morning and organized quite well considering the venue was a warehouse grocery store whose customers consistently walked past pushing the noisiest shopping carts.

I left the event inspired to participate in the race. The idea is to set a financial goal and work with the M3 resources to achieve that goal. I was hesitant at first to join because $1 million seemed unrealistic. I am as hopeful as anyone - but I am not into demoralizing myself by setting unattainable goals. Thankfully, there are multiple goal tiers. One speaker, Nancy Michaels of Grow Your Own Business Network, was quite helpful in providing innovative ways to market products and services - I will be utilizing her suggestions this weekend. Another speaker, Bill Dueease of The Coach Connection, changed my perspective on business coaching. Although his manner was off-putting at times, his points were well-made. And I like the money-back guarantee and the coach-to-client matching process. I am seriously considering the $300 investment. The last speaker reminded me of Caroline Kennedy in her interview during her vie for the NY Senate seat vacated by Hillary Clinton. The hemming and uh-ing was painful! She did very well when it was an open question-and-answer forum, but seemed to have difficulty conveying ideas. Her presentation reminded how important it is to engage your audience and come across as someone who is in control of your material.

The highlight of yesterday was my determination to maximize my time by shopping at Sam's Club. In my mind, the reason that they chose to host the event at their location was the hope of converting attendees to be customers. Now, I have no intention of being a Sam's Club member (we already have 1 too many mega-grocery store memberships), but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to complete much needed shopping - especially since I needed fruit platters for my daughters' Valentine Day parties. When I approached one of the Sam's Club "dignitaries" and requested a day pass - she hesitated. Whoa! Here is a person interested in spending money in your establishment and you hesitate? I understand that you are going to try to sell me a membership, but the first answer should not be, "um, let me check." Right there, I know that if I was in the market to purchase a club membership I would not have gotten Sam's because I could see that customer service is not taught to be a priority to the associates.

It is important to remember that people note the little things. If you come across as unknowledgeable, if you seem unwilling to bend then that sends strong, negative signals.

I DID get my shopping done (I was not impressed with the prices or selections) and I cannot remember the name of the third speaker. Need I say more?