Women’s Leadership Summit 2010

Six weeks ago, my friend and mentor Shandel Slaten called me up and said “You know, I have this idea. Tell me if you think it’s crazy. I just won Coach of the Year. One of the bennies for winning that was that I could offer this awesome personality and values profile at a discount for just one month. I love helping people and I want to help as many people as possible. What do you think about the idea of me putting on a Women’s Leadership Summit?” I was on board. Until she said her next line: “… in six weeks.”

I’ve planned business retreats, ran a conference for 100 entrepreneurs on Rosario and been involved with other weekend events and planning on in 6 weeks seemed a little aggressive. But, if anyone could do it, it was Shandel. “I’m in!” I told her.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of being in the audience with 130 other women as we explored what our natural personality types are and what motivates us to get up in the morning. I’ve taken these tests with True Life Coaching (Shandel’s company) before and have brought her up to Bellingham to coach my entire team. The tests are incredibly interesting, valuable and helpful for living a life with purpose.

Molly Wilmot from Pinks Original Bakery spoke about starting Pinks (formerly Mostly Muffins) and about her biggest lessons growing a business. My take aways from her talk were:

1. Always tell the truth. If you speak from the heart and put honesty first, you don’t need a PR company and you never need to spin anything.

2. Believe in yourself. Molly never believed in the early years that she would fail. It didn’t cross her mind. She just put one foot in front of the other and did what came naturally.

I was honored to speak at the event. I told the Bramble Berry story (starting out in my house with $15,000 on a credit card and no business experience) and went over some keys for Bramble Berry’s successful business journey.

1. Goals matter. Set goals. Make a roadmap. Follow the roadmap. No excuses.

2. Surround yourself with a strong support network – family, friends, employees, life and business coaches, Mastermind Groups, Accountability Groups – to have a better chance at succeeding.

3. Continual learning. Devour books. Read and learn from the best business minds possible to grow yourself as a person and as a leader of integrity within your family and your company.

The event was incredibly rewarding and I was grateful to be a part of it. Thank you to True Life Coaching for facilitating it.

And, if you’re interested in taking that next step in your personal life? Shandel is doing a Life 301 course (via phone) to help you determine your life’s purpose and dig down and figure out what your values are. I’ve taken it and the course was incredible. It helped me define what my values were so I could start to design my life with those values in mind. Four years later, I’m still finding value in the phone training course I took from Shandel.