Meet the Ladies Who Are Changing the Face of Business - Dr. Sally Witt!

I'm starting a new project and I'm so excited! I have met so many wonderful women who have been instrumental in helping achieve all that I have. Now I want you to meet them too! So, I am interviewing each of them and each week I will share an interview with you. Prepare to meet some of the most talented, dynamic, and successful women entrepreneurs. Take notes - because what they will teach you can change your life!

This week's guest is Dr. Sally Witt. I first met Sally through Ryze, a social network she and I both belong to. I had posted an article there which she read and responded to. But our relationship truly blossomed when she and I were both invited to join the Baby Boomer Diva Web of Fame by Boomer Diva Nation Founder, Bev Mahone. Since becoming Divas, I have come to greatly respect and admire Dr. Sally, as she is affectionately known to the rest of us. Please read her story with care. She has a lot to share. May I present - DR. SALLY WITT!!

1. Sally, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I am a woman with a lot of interests, a lot of education, a lot of experience in so many areas. Do you have an hour???? Just kidding. I describe myself as a Renaissance woman. I started out as a dancer/actress/director. Went to grad school for Educational Psychology and Counseling. Worked in Hospitals, Rehab Centers, and group homes. Went back to school for computer programming, and had an awesome career working for Lanier, Apple Computer corporate, and a software company - SAS Institute. I lived in CT, WI, NC, Southern CA, NJ, and PA. I have been a real estate broker in two states for 17 years, I have been President of at least 7 corporations, and some LLCs and nonprofits. I am a Hypnotherapist, Intuitive Spiritual Counselor, Energy Healer, and so much more. I coach people in Social Networking and Social Media. I am an ordained minister, and love performing weddings and helping people. I have my own group called Light Healing Ministries to train and equip people who want to help in their communities. I teach at a Real estate school to cover classes for my husband when he has two opportunities at the same time in different places. I also teach workshops and seminars for Realtors, and coach them as well. I am very passionate about getting to know people and learning from them. I combine all of my skills with radio and video interviews. I now have 6 radio shows for different types of topics. My main radio program is http://www.blogtalkradio.com/drsallywitt. You can see my videos at http://www.youtube.com/drsallywitt.

2. I understand you have some new projects. Can you tell us a little bit about them?

I have been seeing clients for many years for everything from smoking cigarettes, to extreme phobias and anxiety. I have combined techniques and resources in my own unique way that is very successful for me, and the results of my clients. Last fall, I had a divine revelation on how to translate my private sessions into a package on the internet that could give a very similar experience to people all over the world. I have partnered with a wonderful woman in Australia, Charly Leetham, to make the final technical parts of my vision a reality. My first online product is Stop Smoking in 21 Days or Less with Dr. Sally, this will be available at $297 very soon. Because it is my first online product, I decided to offer it at only $97 for the first period to get it in as many people's houses as we can. It is so exciting! We have an affiliate program for all of our products online and services/training programs. We encourage people to help us spread the word. We will be translating the product into some additional languages as time goes on. The next product that is due out in a few weeks is a training package for Social networking and marketing. This will be announced soon, so stay in touch. Very soon, we will be releasing our Breakthrough Coaching and Fast Track Coaching certification programs online. Breakthrough Coaching is a Life Coaching program with the power to help people change quickly. I teach amazing techniques that are easy to learn, and easy to use with clients. The Fast Track Coaching program is for someone who is an expert in an area, and just wants to coach in that field. Both coaching programs teach about marketing your business and working with the clients in a practical sense as well. I still do private sessions in person, or by the phone or internet as well. Check out my website for lots of information! http://www.drsallywitt.com/

3. Why did you start your own business?

I have so much energy, so much inspiration. I need to be able to go with my instincts and creativity. I have always been very successful, and have always multi-tasked. Most established companies want you to do one thing really well, and they want to see consistency. I am consistently creative, passionate, and inspired! I can do lots of things well, and at the same time. And, I can concentrate on my current clients and what they need at the moment.

4. What do you like most and least about being your own boss?

I love almost everything about working for myself. It is hard when I get sick, and have to stay in bed. It is hard to pay for medical insurance sometimes. It is difficult when I am completely booked on my calendar and something fun comes up with the family that I can't do.

5. What personality traits and skills are needed to run a business?

You have to have guts. You have to be able to stand alone. You have to learn from others but make your own decisions. You have to be flexible as things change in the market and the economy. You have to have something to barter when you don't have money!

6. What has been the most difficult part of being an entrepreneur?

Not everyone catches your vision. Sometimes you have to keep explaining yourself and what you do, and the people don't get it. Some people just live in a different world. They work in the same job for 25-35 years, and retire. That is a different world to me.

7. Do you have any resources you have used to build your business that you would recommend?

Social Networking and Internet Marketing are the keys to all business, networking, and success. Almost anything the you need you can find for free or next to free on the internet, and really well done.Come to some of my webinars, have me coach you in free ways to get your name out there, your products out there! http://www.drsallywitt.com/coaching-for-social-networking/

8. Do you have any tips to share on promoting your business?

Write articles, post on blogs, comment on relevant blogs. Do it!!

9. What other advice do you have for someone starting their own business?

Research the market, and do your research on the product or service that you want to offer. Be clear with your intention. Why do you want this business? Be passionate, and positive. Tell everyone about your dream.

10. How can we contact you about your products and services?

http://www.drsallywitt.com, http://www.stopsmokingwithdrsally.com, drsallywitt@gmail.com skype-drsallywitt215-736-0900

And I want to offer a special for all of Melodieann's readers! $50 off the 2 for 1 Special for Social Networking Coaching. Only $200 for one-on-one handholding!! We get so much done in that time, and I set you up with a 1-2 hour weekly maintenance program that you can do yourself. Free skype room for questions and support! You have to email me to get the special price, mentioning Melodieann's series. drsallywitt@gmail.com

11. Is there anything else you would like to share?

The power of networking cannot be emphasized enough. You have to really get to know them, and care about each other. Melodieann and I are connected through an online group. Reaching out to each other outside of the group has created a special bond. I interviewed Melodieann on my radio program. Your world opens up as you make strong relationships. My partner is in Australia, and I am in Pennsylvania. We have never met in person. We are so close because of working together by video conference and online with skype and email. This is an amazing world that we live in! Jump in!

New Project - Meet the Ladies Who Are Changing the Face of Business!

I'm starting a new project and I'm so excited! I have met so many wonderful women who have been instrumental in helping achieve all that I have. Now I want you to meet them too! So, I am interviewing each of them and each week I will share an interview with you. Prepare to meet some of the most talented, dynamic, and successful women entrepreneurs. Take notes - because what they will teach you can change your life!

My first subject is Jeri-Lynn Woods. I met Jeri-Lynn through Ryze, a social network she and I both belong to. I had posted an article there which she read and responded to. We exchanged a few messages and in the course of that exchange, the idea for this project was born. So - without further ado - may I present businesswoman and friend -JERI LYNN WOODS! (applause!!)



1. Jeri-Lynn, tell us a little about yourself.
My name is Jeri-Lynn Woods. I was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and married a Canadian man I met through a personal ad in the Mother Earth News magazine. We corresponded for four months, I flew out to visit him in January 1977, and we got married in March. That's 31 years of struggle, laughter, and music! We have no kids, but we've seen a lot of North America - Ron is a musician, and we've moved a lot. We've lived everywhere from an Indian reserve outside Hanceville, BC (which consists of a gas station and general store), where Ron was teaching, to Nashville, TN, where Ron did NOT succeed in cracking the barrier to becoming an international country music star (*sigh*).

My talents lie in the area of art, singing, math, and office skills. Ron (stage name Dusty Woods) is an immensely talented singer, songwriter, and guitar player with nine albums which he has produced himself.

2. Tell us about your business. My business is called Dustwood Media. I produce and sell Christian meditation CDs, computer wallpaper, and screensavers. My meditations are multi-media CDs featuring beautiful photographic images (most of which are mine), Bible verses, and peaceful instrumental music (my husband's). The wallpaper and screensavers are spin-offs of the meditations.


3. Why did you start your own business?
I originally started working as a Virtual Assistant in my spare time, to make extra money. After seven years of living in Alberta (think Montana winters - only farther north), my husband and I were anxious to move back to beautiful, mountainous BC (British Columbia, where Ron grew up and where we lived for several years after our marriage). My VA business was doing pretty well, so we pulled up stakes and moved to Trail, BC.

After a year, my business wasn't doing well, and I heard of an opportunity to get funding for a new business through a branch of the Employment Insurance program called the Self-Employment Plan. My husband came up with the idea of doing Christian meditations, and we ran across a program called Pictures2Exe which creates PowerPoint-like slideshows. That's where I got the idea of doing my Christian meditation CDs using music, print, and photographic images, instead of the usual music-and-voice meditations.


4. What do you like most and least about being your own boss?
The best things about being self-employed are the flexibility, and being able to do things your own way. You can build your work day around your needs. You can get up at 5 a.m. if you're a morning person, or start work at 4 pm if you're a night person; take time for medical appointments, emergency car repairs, and family celebrations. You don't have to grit your teeth and do things the boss's way even when your boss is obviously doing things wrong.

The worst things are that you have to cover ALL the bases yourself, regardless of your natural talents and skills - design, creation, production, advertising, maintenance, bookkeeping - and the lack of security. You have no medical insurance (unless you pay for it - through the nose), no regular paycheque, no short-term or long-term disability, no one to take over the business if you're sick. You go into business partly to do something you love - but in running the business you spend and awful lot of things doing things you DON'T love, and even things you HATE (such as - for me - promotion).


5. What personality traits and skills are needed to run a business?
All of them! No, seriously, probably one of the most important personality traits - unfortunately, one that I lack - is the natural flair for networking, promoting, getting people excited about what you do. Different personality tests use different terms for it - one I've taken calls this personality type the "promoter" - but it involves the skills necessary for getting out and promoting your business. Promoters actually enjoy everything from making cold calls to networking at parties. To succeed in business it is vital to be able to get the word out about your product or service.

Oddly, another necessary personality trait is the opposite: the ability to gather and analyze data, to focus on facts, to understand and manipulate numbers. This is my personality type (called by one personality test the "analyzer"). This is necessary for doing the back-office work. To succeed in business you need to be able to track income and expenses, gather information and analyze it.

People who have the first personality trait aren't likely to have the second one - and vice versa. That's why there are very few businesses that are completely a one-person show. If you don't have a partner in your business who can cover the areas you are weak in, you need to be able to hire the skills you don't have yourself.

6. What has been the most difficult part of being an entrepreneur?
For me, definitely the lack of security and the need to make all decisions myself.

I'm a very slow decision-maker; it may take me months to come to the right decision. In business you often don't have that much time.

The lack of security stimulates some people; it just scares me!

7. Do you have any resources you have used to build your business that you would recommend?
Heavens, it would take a separate blog to list them all! First would be to check your local government for small-business programs. In Canada, check your Community Futures office for all kinds of business help, a business library, small-business loans, and - if you have qualified for EI any time in the last 3 years - the Self Employment program. I'm sure there are similar programs in the US.

If you need photographic images to use in your advertising or your products, there are a number of good sites online where you can find stock photos. MorgueFile (http://www.morguefile.com/) and StockXchng (http://www.sxc.hu/) are good sources for free stock photos - be sure to read the photographer's terms of use to make sure that commercial use is allowed. To purchase royalty-free stock photos, try iStockPhoto (http://www.istockphoto.com/) or ProductionTrax (http://www.productiontrax.com/) - ProductionTrax is also a good source for stock music and sound effects.

There is some terrific free software out there too. For an office suite, you can't beat OpenOffice.org (http://www.openoffice.org/) - it includes a word processor and spreadsheet program, and with it you can open, edit and save files in Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel format. For an FTP program for uploading files to your website, try FileZilla (go to http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=21558). For an excellent free zip program (for creating compressed ZIP files), ALzip (http://www.altools.com/ALTools/ALZip.aspx) is topnotch. And to create PDF files from almost any program, use CutePDF Writer, http://www.cutepdf.com/.

8. Do you have any tips to share on promoting your business? That's a toughie for me, as promotion is my weak point. I will share what I learned in a marketing workshop: People need to hear about you a lot before they will trust enough to buy. The number we were told in the workshop was 49 times! So when you are planning an ad campaign, for instance, don't figure on putting out a single ad "just to see". Plan on a series of ads, always. If you don't have much advertising budget (welcome to the club!), pick a cheaper place to advertise.

Basically, you need to make sure the people in your market hear about you wherever they turn. Whether they run into your name as author of a useful article, read about you in a press release, see your ad, or run into your website when they are searching - they need to see you again and again.

9. What other advice do you have for someone starting their own business?
Think about it a LOT before you jump. Starting a business is intensive, hard work, it's frustrating, and you WILL NOT MAKE MONEY THE FIRST YEAR. On the average, a new business has to be around for FIVE YEARS before it really starts making a profit.

We all hear stories of the new business that was an overnight success, of course, and it does happen. The odds are, though, that it won't happen to you. You need to be sure you have a source of income that will support you for a minimum of two years while you get your business going.

You're going to be very, very busy! For at least two years you will have all the work of getting your business going, on top of the work you need to do to keep food on the table and a roof over your head.

And be prepared to put money into your business! Even a "shoestring" business costs money. A business phone, a business bank account, advertising, membership in the local Chamber of Commerce, business licenses, opening inventory or materials if you are selling a product, tools and possibly training if you are selling a service, a place to work from.

Finally, DON'T SKIMP ON BOOKKEEPING. If you aren't a trained bookkeeper, figure on hiring one. This is absolutely vital. Remember, when you are running a business, the tax people let you deduct the amount you spend on expenses from the amount you make on sales. You need to keep accurate track of the expenses and the sales!

A special note for Canadians: if you are selling a product/service that you have to charge GST on, remember that you can deduct the amount YOU spend on GST for business purchases! In the early years, when you are spending more on expenses than you are making on sales, you can actually wind up getting a GST refund from the government!

10. How can we contact you about your products and services? My website is http://www.dustwood-media.com/. You can contact me (Jeri-Lynn Woods) by email at jeriwoods@dustwood-media.com, or by cell phone at (250) 512-1215 - remember that I'm on Pacific time.