San Francisco recently passed a ban on plastic bags and many consumers and retailers are taking advantage of this unique ruling to offer eco-conscious options to their customers.

Joling Mew, the proprietor over at http://www.520nmbags.com, supports wholesalers, retailers and consumers with a hip, savvy and environmentally friendly bag that’s made out of 100% recycled plastic bottles.

The bags encourage reusability, so they cut down on the use of plastic bags. They’re also amazingly versatile and easy to care for (they’re machine washable). With clean, crisp design, there’s a unique way of closing the bag without relying on tying it off or using twist-ties. Furthermore, the 520nm bags are made of translucent fabric in a variety of colors: they also have a printed weight to keep things easy for you and the cashier.

Joling says that “520 nm is the wavelength of green light. It’s everywhere you look,” and she’s stated her company’s mission is “to help you see the green in every day by offering simple solutions for a healthy planet.”

As a woman entrepreneur and as someone committed to green thinking, Joling and her associates encourage you to care for the planet and make eco-friendly choices.

If you’re stepping out to the local grocery store or farmer’s market, and you’re looking for a portable, easy option to carry your produce or bulk items, visit 520nmbags.com

Marketing and branding expert (and our friend) Susan Gunelius has just published her first book “Harry Potter: The Story of a Global Busness Phenomenon,” which is now out on Amazon and in bookstores.

In it, Susan reviews the rise of the $5 billion+ industry that surrounds the Harry Potter series. She also gives you insight into how this beloved character has created a profitable and established brand, from J.K. Rowling’s beginnings as a single mom on welfare to her meteoric rise as author of seven books that have sold over 400 million copies worldwide.

How did Rowling do it? How can you apply the lessons learned from the Harry Potter phenomenon to your own product and service? Gunelius states that “From the very beginning, Rowling loved her character and the story she would create for him. That love for her product compelled her to bring a consistent brand message to consumers throughout nearly two decades…” and allows Rowling to play the part of “brand guardian” for the characters throughout multiple books, movie deals, and merchandising.

Learn about the value of having partners and others on your team who are committed to your success and who live your brand promise with you, and learn step-by-step about the value of a good product, the “buzz” about the book, the development of the product through marketing and promotion, the influence of Harry Potter on print publishing, movies, television, retail, merchandising, and online, and the impact of the brand.

Gunelius also includes details on how to recreate this literary phenomenon. You’ll be sure to learn more about how to position your own services and how to guide your own products through the marketplace by learning from this extraordinary example.

Last night’s debate between Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain was an exercise in branding, marketing, staying focused on message, and quick thinking.

Who won the debate?

Both of these gentleman want to get to the White House and be the ultimate representative of America as a country:

Obama was heavy on facts and a bit pedantic at times, but came across as being very “presidential” by coming up with proactive solutions for the “21st century.” He answered questions well and used the keywords that many people respond to: jobs, healthcare, the economy, alternative energy. Points to Obama for keeping his cool, keeping the conversation civil, demonstrating courteousness, and focusing on his own message instead of trying to fact-check McCain midstream.

McCain was folksy, focused on his long record in Congress, told good stories, is not known as “Miss Congeniality” for his refusal to let “pork-barrel spending” pass, and is highly protective of business and corporate interests. Points to McCain for his “story-telling” demeanor and his many sound-bite responses that are sure to be in the news today.

Here I am in Washington DC

Because I don’t have a television, we used live streaming video and I followed along on election.twitter.com to get a sense of people’s realtime responses. Twitter aggregates phrases inside the “tweets” in the network to come up with overall phrases that are indicative of people’s responses.

Interestingly enough, many twitterers focused on exterior things like the loudness of McCain’s tie, the fact that McCain wouldn’t look Obama in the eye, and Obama’s pronunciation of Pakistan. Twitterers focused on a lesser extent on the issues that would make a difference for the next President like foreign policy, a plan for the US’s economy, job development and solutions for our energy needs.

I’m not sure if most Americans will continue to focus on the superficial items or if we as a country will demand more well-defined solutions from these two candidates. Either way, the debates are a great way for the candidates to differentiate themselves and their platforms and to speak to their base. Each candidate really focused on their own issues and spoke to their own community of voters, but I doubt if either of the debaters won new converts to their campaign.

I call the debate a tie, but here are 5 lessons learned for those of us striving for success:

1) Focus on your own message, don’t worry too much about trying to copy or correct others around you.
2) Position yourself as a clear alternative: how do you make a difference?
3) Pay attention to your base, or your community of clients: speak directly to them in language they understand… try to talk about things they care about
4) Keep clean and presentable and maintain your image to be consistent with your personal “brand”
5) Maintain professional courtesy as much as possible and look people in the eye when you talk to them!

Who do you think won the debate?

Many of you who are familiar with the “Four-Hour Workweek” know that a great way to take advantage of your time is to outsource anything that you:

a) don’t like,
b) are not good at,
or c) can’t do

In the 24 hours of the day, I strive to spend the bulk of my time thinking, reading, communicating with partners and clients, and doing research. The remainder of the day is for doing things being a parent to two young children, being a partner to my wonderful husband, eating, sleeping, puttering around the house.

If you do the math, the hours spent doing “busywork” or activities you are not good at starts to add up (how much time do you spend going through receipts? how much time do you spend following up on rote e-mail? how much time do you spend doing data entry?)

To be totally effective, Amy Emerick over at Access Office Services www.accessofficeservices.com suggests that you hire a Virtual Assistant (VA) for these types of tasks. She quotes from Brian Tracy: “Your greatest resource is your time,” and points out that you can be smarter and

• + save money by eliminating the need to pay for extra office space and ongoing support staff,
• + increase productivity by delegating administrative tasks,
• and + gain an experienced business colleague without having to do training to hire a temp or full-time assistant

When you’re effective with your time you’re making the most of each day by focusing on work in which you you excel. The rest of the tasks, especially tasks that don’t require your immediate attention (such as data entry, contact management, proofreading, scheduling, research, print mail services, and the like) can be outsourced to a VA.

How do you value your time?

Not just at an hourly wage, but how much do you value the opportunity to control your time?

If you had an additional two hours in a day (10 hours in a workweek), you would be able to leverage your natural skills and find additional income streams, project ideas, or networking opportunities.

You could take those ten hours and sleep better, so you are more productive during the day.

You could take those ten hours to go for a long walk with your spouse or kids.

You could think about new products and services for your target market.

Amy suggests you take those ten hours and do what you do best with them…. and outsource the work you might be doing to her virtual administrative assistant service!

Amy’s services including general admin support, contact management, and scheduling. She also helps you with creating and maintaining your database, your website, your social network, and she’s a whiz at all things office-related, like desktop publishing, PowerPoint presentations, proofreading and editing, project coordination, and mail services.

A Virtual Assistant isn’t for everybody: if you’re ready to use one you probably have self-identified the need for you to increase your productivity and use your time to maximum efficiency, you probably need assistance but don’t want to hire a full-time employee, and you understand modern technology like the phone, fax, e-mail and web support that a VA uses.

If you’ve used a virtual assistant, I’d like to hear your opinion. If you’re looking for a VA, contact Amy at www.accessofficeservices.com to find ways she can help you make the best use of your time, or visit her blog with useful articles and quotes.

In my experience, any kind of big goal, like Achieving Success, means we all must first clearly state our desired results. This means identifying the Big Goal: what’s the overall picture? What would achievement of this goal look like? How does it feel? Clarifying that Big Goal means envisioning it in total detail, writing it down, posting it everywhere, and truly embodying it.

Dream it.
Creating the Big Goal means truly reaching beyond your present circumstance or situation and putting yourself in the situation you desire. What is that goal? (Never mind how you will get there, or what potential obstacles are in the way). What is your desired goal? Who is there with you? What are you doing? Imagine it in every detail.

For example, I want the A Successful Woman website to identify, reach, and draw in a powerful, engaging, friendly group of like-minded individuals. Through the website, we learn things together. We support each other through doing business with each other. We help each other realize long-held dreams. We make a positive difference for our world… together. I see all of us forming a network of capital, connections, resources, and ideas. I see a comfortable space where we all understand each other’s motivations and we respect each other’s beliefs. I see us all working steadfastly to address issues, I see committment and the ability to rise to any challenge. I see us effecting real, positive change in issues that matter to us.

They’re big goals.

When will it happen?
After identifying what the overall goal for your project or endeavor is, the next step is setting a timeline. When will this overall goal be achieved? It could be ten years from now, or twenty, or just a few months from now. Identify a time frame and aim towards that time frame. “I want to achieve my big goal by this date: __________________.”

Check your progress.
Next, think about what details would constitute achievement of that goal. This could relate to any kind of goal, such as “success in relationships” or “success as a parent” or “success in school” or “success as a human being.” The details include quantification: “I’d like the website to reach 100,000 e-mail subscribers.” Or, the details may include qualitative measurements: “I’d like the website to have an active discussion board that sparks real discussion, connections, and friendships between the participants.”

What are the measurements that would determine success for your Big Goal? It might be achieving a specific monthly income, or being able to reach a certain number of people every month, or it might be targeting a specific weight or blood pressure reading. Whatever it is, it needs quantification: what are your metrics?

Track your Progress
Next, continually measuring your progress is the next part of achieving your goal. Perhaps this is daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually, as a kind of progress report. Where are you in time and what benchmarks have you reached? Constant measurement means accountability, which keeps you on track with your goal. What is today’s date? By when did you want to achieve your goal? Check in and identify benchmarks, or progress markers that help you feel like you’re reaching your goal. These are like the mile markers during a road trip: they give you a sense that you’re making progress. Whatever the interim item is, when you reach it, celebrate it! When you reach your marker, you are that much closer to your goal.

Check in again?
As a note, I encourage you to review your Big Goal periodically. In your estimation, would achieving your goal mean you are successful? Does your goal still make sense? Does it still fit with your vision of where you want to be going? Is it relevant to what you are doing now? If it still makes sense, you are doing the right thing…. keep going! If your definition of success no longer resonates with you, consider your Big Goal in more detail and identify your true reasons or your true motivation. You may surprise yourself with something totally different than expected.

Build your team.
It’s also important for you to find other people who are committed to your success, too. These are friends, lovers, parents, associates, mentors, and family who understand your vision and who support you in achieving that vision. They are positive and they give you support. (I’m planning for the A Successful Woman website to be a kind of clearinghouse for all of us to meet each other and act as this support team). You always live, breathe, and work in relation to other people: we achieve our goals only as part of a tribe of others who are walking their path next to us. If you don’t know anyone who will help you, reach out! Build your network and meet with people in person or online: wherever they are, they are part of your team. find your supporters.

So achieving your success means envisioning it, setting a timeline on it, identifying benchmarks along the way, constantly assessing your progress, and enlisting the support of others who share that goal for you.

If you are already on this path, congratulations. It’s easy to talk and talk but never take action towards our goals (typical phrases to defeat ourselves: “I’m tired!” or “the timing isn’t right” or “I have too many other things on my plate right now”) Try taking action, even a little action is still action. If a big indicator is too much, set a small indicator of progress to help you feel like you’re moving forward. Instead of 100,000 subscribers, start with 10. Then move it to 100, THEN you can start moving the goal to 1000 and 10,000.

Take the first step.
If you’re not yet on your path, just take a first step. When you define your goal and you know what success means to you, and you’re measuring your progress and revisiting your goal on a regular basis, you’ll definitely achieve. However, all of this presupposes that you’ve taken the first step. If you haven’t, go ahead! Just take the first step that brings you there:

Reserve the domain name.
Buy the jeans two sizes smaller.
Sign up for the marathon.
Schedule the tickets.
Open up a new folder.

At a certain point, we must leap into the unknown. Sometimes, moving towards that Big Goal means moving far outside our comfort zone. Anyway, that’s the purpose of having a Big Goal!

Just take the first step. Everything else will follow.

When we think of an important idea in our mind, we envision everything about it. The more we think about that idea, and the clearer our focus becomes on that idea, the easier it is for that idea to become a reality.

Susan Strong at The Metaphor Project explains how we, as humans, are pre-programmed to respond to catchy phrases and small sound bites. She also suggests ways to frame your own message to fit in with “speaking American”

For example, when talking about America, the emerging storyline is about the American Dream, which many women starting up businesses believe in:

1. THE AMERICAN DREAM: pioneering, being on the frontier of something, creating the new, bright future, we invent ourselves b/c we are a “can do” people (or reinvent, redeem, renew or restore), we like things bigger, better, higher, up, improved, fresh, more of everything, we do what works, we’re optimistic….

2. THE AMERICAN NATION: a new kind of nation with a mission, beacon of hope, melting pot, cradle of freedom, democracy’s defender, champion & missionary, home of equal opportunity, of hope, choice, and of power, conscience of the world, rule of law, human rights, political rights, a classless society. . .

3. FREE TO SUCCEED: no barriers, Horatio Alger (individual economic responsibility) and hope for economic success, rags to riches, being good=being rich, a rising tide lifts all boats, individual effort, innovate, compete, win by hard work and being smart, winning, being on the winning team, owning your own home or business, coming from behind, playing catch up. . .

For more, see: http://www.metaphorproject.org/index.php?id=22

I encourage you to consider your existing motto or your life message. What is your mission? What do you plan to accomplish? Who do you connect with?

You take ideas from your own mind, formulate them into a clear message, and then take action, which affects other people. Your ideas literally change the world.

For me, I’ve thought a lot about my mission, which is to empower, educate, and connect women, especially women of color.

As a web developer, I work with women who are developing their business for professional and personal growth. As a mother, wife, daughter, sister, and businesswoman myself, I believe in The Gift of Your Life and that each of us has an honorable challenge and opportunity to make the most of our talents and skills to make the world a truly better place.