What is your secret sauce?

My husband and I went to Ojai a few weeks ago to celebrate our 28th wedding anniversary and marveled at the beauty and simplicity of such a quaint area.  Little did I know that while I was there, I would be thinking about who has the BEST eggs or better yet who did the best job at selling their eggs!

During our stay, we tasted wine from the local winery, visited the antique stores, and shopped at the little boutiques.  (Well, I did. He patiently waited nearby while I tried on a variety of shoes!) We also visited the largest outdoor bookstore that relies on the honor system when paying for books and toured the beautiful grounds of the hotel we were staying at.  Life was grand!

At dinner, we ran into friends who invited me to come to breakfast the next morning while my husband played golf.  They told me that afterwards we would go to the local farmer’s market to buy the “BEST farm fresh organic eggs ever!”.  Breakfast went on much longer than we anticipated as we shared conversation and enjoyed fabulous tea and delicious homemade marmalade.  But one of the friends was antsy as he reiterated that we needed to go to the farmers market or the eggs would be gone.  Sure enough, we got there too late (at 9:30 am) as a tall twin of “Owen Wilson” informed us that there were no more eggs!  My friend was so disappointed!   He questioned exactly what time the eggs ran out (8:15) and pondered how he would make it till the following week without his eggs.  I was ready to comment that there were several other vendors with plenty of farm fresh organic eggs when I noticed the homemade sign on the table that read,

EGGS $ 6.49 a dozen
Yep, our eggs are expensive, but they are worth it

Other vendors were charging around $ 4.25 a dozen and seemed to still have plenty of eggs, so I couldn’t help but ask the “Owen twin”, “What makes your eggs so special”?  He smiled wide and said, ” We sing to our chickens!  Oh yeah, the eggs are organic and the chickens have free range (really free to range as we do have lots of property) and we feed them right.   But, we have happy birds!  You see, we have a girl that comes in every night and sings them a good night song.  They love it and they lay great eggs with large yellow yolks.  We recycle our cartons and if you will notice, here is a picture of one of our happy birds.  Happy birds lay the BEST eggs!”  Well, all I can say is that I was SOLD!  Who wouldn’t want these eggs?

So the question you have to ask yourself is, “What is my story?” and “Do I have the best eggs?” We all have a secret sauce and it’s time to start singing or figuring out what makes your product or service so special.

I've got an idea!

So you have a great idea for a new business! Yay! How exciting. Now all your dreams can come true! You can make a million dollars, buy anything your heart desires, (well almost), and live happily ever after. Not! Ideas are great, good ideas even better, and it certainly takes a good idea to launch a successful business, but ideas are just ideas if that is as far as you go. Les Brown, a motivational speaker says that the graveyard is the richest place on earth, because it is here that all the great ideas are buried, the ideas that were never heard, the businesses that were never launched, the songs that were never written, the inventions that were never developed, and the books that were never written.

So what does it take to start a business once you have that light bulb moment? Some might say money. But many a business has been started with very little money. Others may say that experience or education is necessary, but once again, you will hear many successful business owners say they knew little to nothing about their subject matter when

Check!

they first started their business. One might think that you need talent, ambition, enthusiasm, and passion, and certainly those are important attributes to launching a business, but those attributes alone are not the determining factor to launching. The one thing that separates the dreamers from the doers is ACTION. Your ideas will never take flight without action. You must put some sort of plan in place and take action on your dreams. Creating your vision, setting some goals and following through are important steps in taking you business forward. So if you want to see your great idea become reality, then take action towards your vision and watch your dreams come true!

-Jan

My Happy Place!

As we mapped out our trip, we fed him addresses we believed to be the ultimate destinations of places we were inspired to visit. Often we were torn between following a rather outdated but trusty map or adhering to the compelling voice of TomTom as he confidently and expertly told us to turn here, turn there, go straight or prepare to stop. What struck me as I sat in the car taking in the beautiful sights, was TomTom’s strong and assured voice as he guided us when we got off track and were headed in the wrong direction….. WHENEVER POSSIBLE, TURN AROUND. Oh my gosh, I thought, wouldn’t it be nice if every time I veered off track from goal, TomTom was there telling me, WHENEVER POSSIBLE, TURN AROUND, reboot, go back, rethink your position? He’s Mr Perfect, I want a TomTom!

My Navigator

The truth of the matter is though, I already have a TomTom. But I haven’t been listening to my inner voice that says, pay attention, watch the signs, refer back to your goals, check your map again. What a revelation! I’ve been so caught up in the sights, the external distractions, the end goal, that I haven’t been using the technology I’m equipped with! Mr Perfect has been with me all this time ,so with renewed energy and determination, I’m listening to that compelling voice. We all have the ability to tap into our personal GPS as we travel on our journey and reassess our destination. Are we still on track, are we staying true to our goals, are we going in the right direction. In a world of fast moving, fly by the seat of your pants, no guidance, it’s nice to know we always have a TomTom if we take a moment and trust in ourselves to get us to the right destination.

- Jan