Recently Vickie Howell posted a link to the Boss Lady panel podcast from SXSW on the Babes in Biz email group. I listened to it this weekend while I worked in my studio. It was so helpful to hear how other women wrestle with the same issues I am coming up against. Two things really stood out for me: working time and hiring an assistant. They talked about how much time they spent working in the beginning. For me this has been a real issue lately. I want to work on my business ALL THE TIME these days. I feel kind of obsessed about it and I was starting to wonder if it is normal. My passion for my business really drives me to do everything I can to make it work. Right now it is difficult to conceive of turning out the lights and walking away at 6 PM but I find it comforting that other women have been through this kind of madness to be productive and have come out the other end, sane and with thriving businesses.
Another subject that really spoke to me was hiring an assistant. Being super detail oriented I fear turning over tasks to other people. They made such great points though. Jenny Hart talked about reading that businesses that hire employees end up making more money. Vickie Howell recalled advice from Kathy Cano Murillo, to let go of web design and other tasks. That totally made sense to me. If I could let go of accounting or hire someone to update my website, I could spend more time designing jewelry. Vickie also addressed another troublesome aspect of hiring an assistant: worrying that you won’t be able to support their job or that you're not offering enough. She suggested asking for exactly what you want because it may be exactly what someone out there is looking for.
There were so many other great bits of information in the podcast but these were the ones that really spoke to me. So, thanks for posting that link Vickie! I learned so much from it!
In case you missed it and want to listen to the podcast, here is a link.
Also recommended: The Influence of Art in Design podcast on the next page.
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