While I’ll turn 39 next month… and I know many people complain about wearing glasses after 40, I’ve been wearing (THICK) glasses since I was 3 years old. The tipping point for my Mom was when she asked me what color the car was next to us… and I asked “WHAT CAR?” Lol…
Anyway, while I’m mainly a contact lens wearer now, a TOP frustration for those of us who wear glasses is searching the house to figure out where you last left them. We’ve all been in that Mission: FOUND situation with our eye glasses or even with our sunglasses! It was this very frustration that prompted Phyllis to create a solution. (THANK YOU PHYLLIS!!!)
Enter: BOLAS.
WOW loved bolas. But Phyllis also offers great business advice for us all:
- Be authentic. The importance of authenticity can’t be understated….
- Equally as important — though — is having, and understanding, the numbers; staff numbers, market numbers and of course the financials. Accurate numbers allow me to keep the doors open day to day and plan accurately for the future. Authenticity ensures that I am trustworthy, that the business’ products and services are of real value and that I spend a couple of thousand hours a year surrounded by people with whom I enjoy the journey while we get the work done.
Awesome stuff! (And amazing product, Phyllis. I’m a fan!)
WOW is an amazing collection of some of the most driven and determined and successful business women I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet. But, just because we’re awesome doesn’t mean we’re “immune” from the really heartbreaking losses, including the loss of divorce.
Meet… Fairy Good Heart. Nancy Fagan had a successful divorce mediation firm and through the years, parents kept sharing 3 common struggles related to their children:
- How to tell their children about the divorce,
- Helping children understand the divorce was not their fault, or that the parents would not stop loving them, and
- How to comfort children who missed the parent who moved out of the home.
The divorce book Nancy wrote addresses all 3 and the stuffed toy aided children with number 3. And, while the origins of the business focused on divorce, it quickly expanded to a variety of circumstances that cause parents and children to be separated (deployment, business travel or shift work (i.e. 48 hour shifts as a fireman, oil rig workers, truck drivers, etc.), incarceration, hospitalizations, leaving home to care for a sick relative. As you can see, the list is endless. The stuffed toy works beautifully to help children feel connected when a parent is away.
So, while none of us WANT to be here, we all appreciate entrepreneurs like Fagan for creating something to help ease the pain of divorce for our children.
The biggest lesson Fagan has learned in business so far? Here’s whatshe says,
Not a week goes by that I don’t learn a new lesson in business. Learning to constantly evaluate what is, and isn’t getting results is key. So regardless of how great I think an idea is, if I’m not getting results, I try something different.
Well said.
