Can I throw humility out the window at holiday time?

I was just profiled in a brand new book.  A Cup of Cappucino For The Entrepreneur’s Spirit (Vol II) is now published and on sale thanks to the wonderful folks (especially Cindy Thompson) at Entrepreneur Enterprises.  It’s chock full of stories by and about entrepreneurs of all shapes and sizes.  Makes for an interesting read over the holiday season–you can revv up on your momtrepreneurial spirit by checking out these profiles!

Happy Holidays, all.

My favorite marketing genius, Seth Godin, has posted a free e-book for all to download.  I highly recommend that you download it. (Look for the “Download PDF FREE” button).

It’s a huge collection of thoughts on things to do and think about this year…a nice recap from some serious players in the blogging world.  Enjoy.

Palo Alto Software let me try out their business tool program, Start, Run & Grow.  This clever business kit includes a variety of “essential tools to build your business.”  They offer links to sites and companies that help with tracking your time, bookkeeping software, payroll guides, managing customer emails, and plenty more.  There are a lot of discounts to these different offerings through using Start, Run & Grow–a lot of which can be very useful, especially for you starter-uppers.

I’d asked the company, once I perused the program, if I was missing something–I didn’t know if there was an interactive portion along with the site recommendations.  They said:  “The idea behind this particular product came from our customers. We knew from our popular resource section in Business Plan Pro that people were looking for services and products they could trust and would be essential to their business success.  So, we contacted several existing partners and quite a few new ones to put together a “tool box” of offers – free and discounted – to help small and medium businesses. We grouped them into sections we thought would be more helpful for different advents of a business. Those starting out, those running a business and those in a growth mode.”

How clever are they?  I obviously needed the “grow” section of their program and found myself clicking away throughout it.

The downside to investing in a program like this appeared initially to be that I would only use 1/3rd of their offerings–but as I started thinking about it, I clicked on the “start” section and noticed an abundance of opportunities that I hadn’t considered when I did start my companies.  (An eye-opener, really).

Do you want to try a copy?  The three people to post a comment here about one of the links in this post will be mailed a FREE copy!

The holiday season has begun early this year.  And by season, I mean “consumption of giant quantities of delicious no-no’s.”

Last week I received a huge tin of popcorn from The Popcorn Factory, a Cheryl&Co. cookie and brownie, and truffles from none other than Fannie May.  Why?  Because someone at these companies saw my name on a list likely titled Those Who Must Pre-Load On Treats Before Actual Holidays.  (Note to food companies:  this is the only type of spam that I welcome.)

Buy these for your employees this year.  They’re small treats, affordable enough, and the kind that you don’t even realize you’ve finished until you look down at your desk and get really mad and start shouting, “WHERE IS THAT BROWNIE?” and blame everyone in your family even though none of them are home.  My order of preference?  Eat the cookie and brownie first, followed by 3 truffles (per day) and finish off with at least 5 handfuls of popcorn per night.

Truffle assortment gift boxes cost $17.99 to start, Buttercream Frosted Brownies start at $28.95, and that dang popcorn tin is only $24.99.  (Use promo code P70 whe ordering from The Popcorn Factory and you’ll get $5 off.)

(NOTE TO BALLY‘S:  PLEASE CONTACT ME IN JANUARY.)

I’ve been having a hard time actually admitting to the world that I picked up Donny Deutsch’s book, The Big Idea.  His show is not my cup of tea.  And most of the time, I pass on those books filled with generic, full-of-zest pep talks about how to succeed by making green tea and just dreaming big!

To my surprise, Deutsch’s collection of success stories was inspiring.  From Alton Brown to Miley Cyrus to Martha Stewart to Spanx’s Sara Blakely, he succinctly writes about the biggest names entrepreneurial success stories.  But he does so in a way that does not distance these superstars’ stories from our own.  Deutsch turns each of them into real people and actually had me making notes like, “how to get Tarte Cosmetics‘ distribution” and “change the world like TOMS Shoes.”

I did spent the last two months reading through about 20 different business books — and while it still pains me to write it, this book was one of my faves.  Read through the hokey bits to the real life stories and tell me if they inspire you, too.

(By the way, kudos to Catherine Whitney whose name is on the cover and who I’m guessing co-wrote the book–I don’t know who she is but further proof that behind every great man is a greater woman.)