Many of these mistakes, missteps and muck-ups cost me money, so I share them with you so you can avoid these in 2006 (thanks to Michael Rasmussen of FreeAdvertisingForum.com for giving me the idea for this list).

• Mistake, Misstep and Muck-up #1 - Spending way too much time on my computer, instead of meeting people face to face. Networking online is great, however, it can never take the place of meeting face-to-face or having a conversation over the phone. Sending emails are so darn easy, but I found that I got too wrapped up with the ease of this technology. I even had a huge argument with one of my vendors because I tried to "break things off" with him over email. I should know better.

  LESSON LEARNED - Compliment online networking activities with face-to-face and phone meetings.

• Mistake, Misstep and Muck-up #2 - Spending way too much time on the technical side of my business. I worked in the technology sector for close to 10-years and I pride myself in being a chick that knows her techie stuff. However, my digital knowledge kept me up late at night as I took responsibility for updating the content on my webpages, creating new autoresponders and creating new HTML pages for new products, instead of farming things out to others. For every new product or teleclass I would launch, it would take me 8-hours to get all the technical pieces ready.

  LESSON LEARNED - Hire a techie expert to maintain my website. Let it go.

• Mistake, Misstep an
  How To Give Good Service
  If you can provide just what you can, you are giving a good service. It is best to be helpful in an area of your expertise. Some promise incredible results, but, they may be copying advertising pressure methods. Listening and agreeing to these, is to be listening to con artists. But there are consequences, and you may end up in a survival position, financially. Maybe it would be best to cut your losses. Sometimes there can be a big investment, Online or Offline. The let downs, disappointments, the promises and the probably fabricated stories of success are online and offline.You even get city leaders trying to impress, rather than
  of FreeAdvertisingForum.com for giving me the idea for this list).
  • Mistake, Misstep and Muck-up #1 - Spending way too much time on my computer, instead of meeting people face to face. Networking online is great, however, it can never take the place of meeting face-to-face or having a conversation over the phone. Sending emails are so darn easy, but I found that I got too wrapped up with the ease of this technology. I even had a huge argument with one of my vendors because I tried to "break things off" with him over email. I should know better.

    LESSON LEARNED - Compliment online networking activities with face-to-face and phone meetings.

  • Mistake, Misstep and Muck-up #2 - Spending way too much time on the technical side of my business. I worked in the technology sector for close to 10-years and I pride myself in being a chick that knows her techie stuff. However, my digital knowledge kept me up late at night as I took responsibility for updating the content on my webpages, creating new autoresponders and creating new HTML pages for new products, instead of farming things out to others. For every new product or teleclass I would launch, it would take me 8-hours to get all the technical pieces ready.

    LESSON LEARNED - Hire a techie expert to maintain my website. Let it go.

  • Mistake, Misstep a
    The Entrepreneur Trap - Why you Need to Sack Yourself
    One of the key faults of many entrepreneurs is that they create a job rather than a business.It all seems to make sense in the beginning. You’ve started your business and you do everything from the accounts, to the marketing, to the sales and making coffee. It saves additional costs and you know the business better than anyone else. As you grow your business, you may take on extra staff for certain tasks and you gradually let go of the areas that you’re weakest on. But you still like to be involved in everything.After all, it’s your business, your investment, your baby. What if someone else doesn’t take as much care of it as you would? W
    ails are so darn easy, but I found that I got too wrapped up with the ease of this technology. I even had a huge argument with one of my vendors because I tried to "break things off" with him over email. I should know better.

    LESSON LEARNED - Compliment online networking activities with face-to-face and phone meetings.

  • Mistake, Misstep and Muck-up #2 - Spending way too much time on the technical side of my business. I worked in the technology sector for close to 10-years and I pride myself in being a chick that knows her techie stuff. However, my digital knowledge kept me up late at night as I took responsibility for updating the content on my webpages, creating new autoresponders and creating new HTML pages for new products, instead of farming things out to others. For every new product or teleclass I would launch, it would take me 8-hours to get all the technical pieces ready.

    LESSON LEARNED - Hire a techie expert to maintain my website. Let it go.

  • Mistake, Misstep a
    Economic Comment on Youngstown, OH
    In Youngstown we saw the city of Boardman growing middle class mixed race area with newer homes and the downtown and adjacent area appeared to be poor black, but not crime ridden, people there were very nice and hard working family folks. If you begin to study and look at the projects around the Youngstown area it is easy to get excited about the future seeing as they are pro-active and smart about economic growth and about their place in the world between Pittsburgh and Akron.The coolest and most aggressive project was out at the airport where we witnessed the new 500 plus acre business park and mostly all manufacturing businesses-JOBS. And by the w
    >Mistake, Misstep and Muck-up #2 - Spending way too much time on the technical side of my business. I worked in the technology sector for close to 10-years and I pride myself in being a chick that knows her techie stuff. However, my digital knowledge kept me up late at night as I took responsibility for updating the content on my webpages, creating new autoresponders and creating new HTML pages for new products, instead of farming things out to others. For every new product or teleclass I would launch, it would take me 8-hours to get all the technical pieces ready.

    LESSON LEARNED - Hire a techie expert to maintain my website. Let it go.

  • Mistake, Misstep a
    Making The Most Of Your Sales Flyers
    Many people know the value of newspaper inserts, dircet mail, and sales flyers, but drop the ball when it comes to making people react to them. Obviuosly, it is always a better looking flyer when professional designers and copywriters are used. But, even they sometimes miss the boat on getting action. The best way to get any action on your sales flyer is to "give your customer a reason to come in and try you out". That's right, the "what's in it for me" approach. Think of yourself like a consumer. What would it take to get you to try a new product, or try a new vendor, etc.?It is all in "The Offer". Yes, you may not make as much money on their initia
    reating new autoresponders and creating new HTML pages for new products, instead of farming things out to others. For every new product or teleclass I would launch, it would take me 8-hours to get all the technical pieces ready.

    LESSON LEARNED - Hire a techie expert to maintain my website. Let it go.

  • Mistake, Misstep and Muck-up #3 - Not delegating my administrative tasks. There are certain things I hate doing in my business - updating documents, making them look pretty, writing content and writing sales copy for new information products. I just can't stand doing these things and it would take me eons just to write one sentence. Then, that meant I would have to rush and write something quickly because I sat on it for too long and the deadline was an hour away.

    LESSON LEARNED - Hire a virtual assistant or copywriter to do all this stuff for me.

  • Mistake, Misstep and Muck-up #4 - Spinning my wheels targeting the wrong market. When I first started coaching, I was on a mission to inspire women to create the career they deserve. Although I was making money, I didn't feel passionate about helping women climb the corporate ladder. It wasn't until my mother came to one of my speaking engagements in September 2005 that she gave me the clarity I needed. With her wisdom and her keen eye, she helped me craft my current mission - to help women start a business on a shoestring budget.

    LESSON LEARNED - Really listen to what my clients (and mom) are telling me about the problem they're experiencing.

  • Mistake, Misstep and Muck-up #5 - Creating a bunch of cool information products all at once. Just because I can bang out 5 special repo