eWomenNetwork Blog

My father, who is 84 and lives with my husband and I, recently had heart surgery.   With everything else going on in life (family, business, the stress of daily life), that event caused major shifts in our normal routine and left all of us feeling a little out of control.  (Dad’s doing great, thankfully!)  But it really got me to thinking about the whole idea of balance, and how as women it seems like the task of providing a sense of order and balance often falls to us within our families, our workplace, our business – in life!

Nordette over at Blogher.com had a great post recently on her blog entitled, “10 Things I’m Too Overwhelmed To Write About” — and I could really relate because I understood where she was coming from – AND I’ve heard some of the same sentiments from my girlfriends lately — North Korea, health care, Iraq, the economy, global warming – not to mention everything going on in our own business and personal lives, sometimes leaves us feeling like there is just no balance to be had in this world.

When life gets like this for me, I know that the first person I need to take care of is me — an example that a girlfriend shared with me that illustrates this is the instruction shared by flight crews on every airline in the world:  “Assemble your breathing mask over your nose and mouth first, before assisting others” — in other words, take care of yourself so you CAN take care of the people you love and care about, as well as all of your business commitments.

Of course, this is often easier said than done!

What ways do you find helpful for finding balance when everything seems out of control?  Share your stories here and let’s learn from each other!

Caroline

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The Invincibelle blog recently published the results of the pilot Key4Women Confidence Survey which was designed to gauge the experiences and opinions of women business owners in relation to the current economic conditions.

From that survey, “More than half (56 percent) reported lower net earnings and 18 percent decreased employment levels in the first quarter of this year. However, 90 percent of the respondents don’t think the economy will get any worse during the rest of 2009; 48 percent of the respondents said they expect the economy will improve over the next six months, and another 42 percent think it will remain about the same.“

I’m curious to know what you think … I’m definitely in the category of the 48% who think the economy will improve over the next six months – and I’m seeing signs of that in my business every day.  How about you — how is the economy affecting your business, and are you with me in the opinion that things are improving — or am I all wet?

Let me hear from you!

Caroline

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Welcome to the eWomenNetwork Blog!

Maybe it’s the time of year – or maybe this has been happening for awhile, and this year I’m just noticing it more.  Have you noticed that the “Lists” are being published already?

You know the ones I’m talking about – the lists that magazines and publications run … everything from “The World’s Sexiest Man” (well, I haven’t seen that one yet this year) to the one I came across while reading Ad Age online the other day called “Women to Watch.”

Today in my mailbox, I received a copy of Minnesota Business Magazine and they were featuring their “Peer Power” issue – “How Are Minnesota Business Women Supporting and Encouraging Each Other’s Success?”

This all started me thinking about how much I’ve learned about supporting and encouraging women in business through my involvement with eWomenNetwork.  How working together, we can lift each other up – in business and in life.  And I’m thrilled to see “lists” like those I referenced above, where women in business are being recognized and celebrated for their accomplishments!

Which brings me to the reason for this post – to welcome you to the eWomenNetwork blog!

My vision for this blog is to create an online space where we’ll highlight the successes of business women, lift each other up, share ideas and comments from each other’s perspective, learn from one another … and stay on top of what’s happening with eWomenNetwork too.

And while I’ll serve as the “blogmaster” to keep everything “organized”, I’m far from doing this alone.  From time to time I’ll be relying on my girlfriends to help me out with guest posts on topics that I think everyone would love to learn more about.

Have an idea for a blog post? Start a discussion by posting a comment and sharing your idea. Have comments or a unique perspective to share about a particular post – let us hear from you! My hope is for this to be a community effort.

One of my favorite images that helps me describe eWomenNetwork to others is one where there is a hand pulling someone up to help them rise, and simultaneously the person’s other hand is reaching up to be pulled along by someone else.  It’s a powerful image, and we all have access to that power when we choose to help others and let others help us.  I hope this blog works just like that image – an online community of sharing where we’re all looking to reach out a hand and help someone along the way, and where we can reach out and ask for help as well.

In my mind, business women who do that will be the REAL “Women to Watch!”

To YOUR Success!

Caroline Melberg
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P.S.  If you’d like to learn more about where to connect with the women you need to propel your business forward, check out this year’s eWomenNetwork International Conference & Business Expo.  I was there last year, and can promise you that it’s a life-and-business-changing event.  This year, the Conference is all about social media – what it is, what it can do, and how you can use online marketing and social media to grow your business.  Social media is the only way that I market my business (other than the speaking that I do at events), so I can tell you from personal experience … it works! You won’t want to miss it – check out the details here!