My 16 year old son is a perfect example of a team player. He is always encouraging his teammates to “keep going” and continuously recognizes them for their efforts. Hockey and football coaches alike have shared the same types of comments about Kevin – “one of the most respected players on the team”, “great ...

Anyone who knows me will tell you that I’m a big fan of goal setting. I’m constantly telling people that in order to achieve your goals the key is to “write them down!” By putting them on paper you are creating a tangible link to those goals. You’ve made them more “real” and this will help you to focus ...

One of the most popular motivational sayings these days is “Work smarter, not harder.” It always seems that the more I try and the harder I worked towards a goal, the tougher it was to attain. I never quite understood how this could happen until I really took a close look at the “Work smarter, not harder” ...

In honor of the recent holidays and the upcoming New Year I am going to keep this post short and sweet. Ok, fine, I admit it. It has nothing to do with the holidays. I’m just still pretending to be in Cancun, soaking up the sun and relaxing on the sand! With that in mind, I wanted to mention that my recent trip ...

I’ve found that I am very nostalgic this holiday season. Perhaps it’s the fact that my children are growing up entirely too fast (or maybe it’s just the eggnog!), but for the past few weeks I keep returning to Christmases of the past and reflecting on my life as a whole. Being one of four siblings you might ...

As I prepared for this holiday season with decorating, wrapping gifts, and addressing cards, I kept thinking about “giving”. All over the news you see parents fighting over the hot new toy, stories of those who have very little, and articles about how the economy is hurting this season’s bottom line. It makes me ...

Why is it that committing to due diligence is so much easier in business than in your personal life? Before embarking on any type of business venture I spend time evaluating and going through the due diligence process to determine if it is worthy of my time and energy.  Somehow though, I manage to forget this process ...

Ok, it’s time to come clean. When I was 20 I had a secret love affair. It wasn’t my fault really, it just…happened. It was one of those things that I didn’t consciously plan for or dwell on. However, deep down, in my subconscious, I knew (Napoleon Hill would agree!). I had known for 2 years by that time ...

This past Tuesday I attended the Women’s Business Connections networking meeting in Orleans, Ontario. This group has been a wonderful tool and a large part of my business for many years now and I always seem to learn something new with each meeting. This week we invited Michael J. Hughes, Canada’s Networking Guru, ...

The old adage “opposites attract” has been around for many years. It’s used mostly to relate to relationships but anyone who has ever had their own business knows that businesses and relationships are quite alike. Both need nurturing, require excellent communication and take lots of energy to maintain. Handled ...