the entrepreneurial mother

if you don't run your own life,
someone else will...

(John Atkinson)

A short note, but a very poignant one today,
I don't really need to say much else!

In bathrooms, boardrooms, buses, bagel shops, and everywhere else, we all need to imagine a little girl following us around, repeating everything we say and everything we do. Think about all the things you want for yourself and your daughters, granddaughters, and girls everywhere - and teach them by living it yourself.

Nell Merlino in
"Stepping Out of Line: Lessons for Women Who Want It Their Way in Life, in Love and at Work (Broadway)

What a quote.
What a reminder.
What a fact, worthy of that constant consideration

Are you living it?

There's a growing movement afoot...are you a part of it?

The latest from the Independent Contractors of Australia...

* The latest labour force survey released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (June 2008) shows a steady increase in the number of self-employed people. The number of self-employed people in the community is over 19% of the workforce. That¹s 2.03 million people (2008) up from 1.9 million (2004).

It¹s also clear that as people mature they gravitate toward self-employment. 50% of the self-employed are aged 35-54. 28% are older than 55. This could predictably result in larger numbers of self-employed as the workforce ages. For ICA's full commentary on the latest ABS figures click here...

* Three further ATO links to help prepare for the end of the financial year (on tax deductions, business seminars and rental properties) can be found on their news page

...as featured in this months AdvantEdge.

What we do...
For those of you who wish to find more work, we actively continue to source projects in a shrinking market.
For those of you looking to build a business, then we are prepared to teach you everything we know, and more ...yes, that's right!

What we are in the process of doing...
We have been in discussions with a technology driven DIY version of a Corporate Talent Agent, with the view to being able to offer ALL consultants and consultancies both a DIY service and a full service (like aCE talentNET). We will be rolling out full details as they come to hand, just as soon as all is finalised.
Think of this great initiative as another "feather in your marketing bow"!

We are also revisiting our affiliate program, smartening it up and rolling it out again, in its newly improved format.
Think of this great offering as another "string" to your passive income generating bow!

As as mentioned previously, we are also looking at setting up a forum for consultants to avail as they choose to. We will also investigate how we can open up keynote speaking opportunities, as this is what you've asked for. But it will take a little longer.
We will however be able to be really clever and tie it in with the coaching and mentoring. Quarterly get-togethers will also offered, together with access to a list of preferred Insurance suppliers, and the ability to download the latest in book summaries and audio offerings.

We will be setting up an internet based coaching and mentoring program that will be specifically about developing you as a savvy and sought-after consultant. In time, assuming we've done that development properly, then it will manifest itself in (provided you have put all that you will understand into practice) you having more of your own work than you'll possibly be able to manage (won't that feel good!), and that you in turn will be coming to us for assistance with resourcing consultants to help you deliver.
All of this amazing development will of course come at a price, which we endeavour to keep as fair and reasonable as possible. Details to follow.

As for the aCE talentNET website, the new version is already up and running, with further enhancements to be added on route. There is a dedicated consultant section, which will undergo significant improvement as more features are developed and are ready to incorporate over the coming months.

We will keep you informed of all initiatives as we go, via announcements in the Professional Edge and the AdvantEdge. Not part of our talent NETwork?
go to the website and join up www.acetalentnet.com.au

What else you can be doing...
Learn the Secrets of Emotional Resilience
Our FR*EE Gift Offer - Two Tickets Worth $1,790!

happy consulting!
Denise Hall
Executive Director - Business
www.acetalentnet.com.au

I was reading this little gem from Germaine Greer in the Notebook magazine last night, and it struck a real chord with me, hence why I'm sharing it...

Five women are toiling up a muddy track at the western extremity of the Macpherson Range, a 20-year-old, a 30-year-old, a 40-year-old, a 50-year-old and a 60-year old. They're on their way to see a 70-year-old woman who lives in the rainforest, to ask her what women want. Forty years ago she wrote a book on a related subject, so they figure she ought to know. When they arrive at her tumble-down house, she is sitting on the verandah, looking at the forest. 'What is it that women want?' they chorus. 'A good kicking,' she says.

read on...

The chord it struck was that, whilst I found it quite humourous and pretty close to the mark, it helped remind me that at different times in our lives we need and want different things. What I want/need now as an entrepreneurial mother is not the same shopping list of items as I would have once presumed, pre-daughter. Nothing is forever after all.

When I ask entrepreneurial mothers-to-be the question "what do you as an entrepreneurial mother want?", they quite often have trouble answering it. The first couple of comments are usually around having the time to do everything. Then when asked "if the fairy godmother came and granted all the time you needed, what then do you want?", there is invariably some uncomfortable silence, as they've not thought that through quite to the level required...

Have you really thought through what you want, and why?