Your hands get cold and clammy.  You begin to tremble and find that you are short of breath.  Your stomach churns.  You feel like your entire body is covered in a fine sheen of sweat that makes your clothing cling and you can feel a bead of moisture beginning to roll slowly down your temple.  You are hyper-aware of the fact that everyone is looking at you expectantly, wondering what is wrong.  But no matter how much you wish it were otherwise, there is no ambulance coming to whisk you away to a nice, quiet hospital room.  No, this is not an illness; it’s just your bizarre reaction to public speaking.  Actually, you’re not alone.  It is one of the most common phobias in the world.  Unfortunately for you, it is also an invaluable skill when it

The key to starting your business off on the right foot is a smart and savvy business plan, as any business-school graduate will tell you.  You’ll need it to determine your immediate and short-term course of action, decide if you need investors or partners, and secure the bank loans to get started and stay afloat.  But how do you go about creating this mystical document?  The description of a sound business plan as one that lays out not only the steps you will take to form and grow your business, but also the cost of startup and the prospects for economic viability, at least gives you an idea of where to start.  But what you really need is a list of items to include and some tips on how to go about getting the information required to write up your plan.

Starting a business is never easy, and with our economy still struggling to pull out of a nosedive, the prospects of getting a loan can be bleak.  However, the future is bright for female entrepreneurs with a hankering to pursue a great idea (buttressed by a sound business plan).  Women today face different challenges in the workforce than their predecessors, and while our forerunners strove to ensure that future generations of females would get a fair shake, it can still be hard to overcome the stereotyping that claims women just aren’t cut out for the same jobs as men.  Entrepreneurship is one of those fields.

As you look at the clutter around your house on the way out your door, or the mass of papers strewn across your desk at work, you keep promising yourself that one of these days, you’re going to get organized.  But with a hectic schedule that barely allows you time to scarf down a burger or hit the pillow for a quick snooze, accompanied by dozens of to-dos buzzing around your head day and night, you just can’t seem to find the time to arrange your life and your environment into the neat and tidy bundle you’d prefer.  However, scheduling in an appointment for organization could help you in more ways than one.  It has been shown that people who live in a clutter-free space that is set up for easy management (a place for everything and everything in its place) enjoy less stre

You see them all around you; women succeeding in every avenue of life.  They seem to have direction and know what they’re doing.  They seem busy, satisfied, and put together while you can barely coordinate an outfit.  You wonder how they manage to look so calm and collected when you know they work full-time and yet somehow concurrently enjoy a full and happy home life.  

How do these women do it?  While there is no magical secret to success, there are certainly characteristics that most successful women share, and if you can adopt them in your own life, there’s no reason you can’t attain the same level of success.