by Solange Lopes | Dec 16, 2016 | Career
This is our weekly career and lifestyle news roundup, where we round up exciting news of the last week and we let you have it…ahem, news-wise that is…
Think of it as your career gossiping section on steroids…
And while you’re at it, follow us on Facebook, Twitter,IG, and Pinterest!
Here we go…
- In super exciting news this week, The Corporate Sister is featured in Ellevate Network’s Top Resources for professional women in the Media category (doing happy dance)! Check it out HERE!
- Feeling the holiday lull? The Lindsey Pollak Blog gives us some pointers to be productive when pretty much no one else is at this time of year (and here’s my take on dealing with office stress too);
- Ellevate provides some super-effective pointers on making others want to follow up with you after a networking event;
- Office gift exchange coming up? Business Insider lists 8 do’s and dont’s;
- Black Enterprise shares this new fund created to help Black entrepreneurs;
- Planning a holiday party? Ellevate Network is sharing 5 ways to make sure your guests are happy;
- Running a business with your spouse or considering to do so? Inc. describes the 3 phases of the process;
- Is being an entrepreneur driving you bonkers? Check out these six tips by Ellevate to maintain your sanity;
- Still pondering over the mistakes of 2016? Thought Catalog urges you to start forgiving yourself;
- Putting together last-minute holiday outfits? All the pretty birds has some inspiration for you;
- Hosting Christmas dinner this year? Food52 suggests 9 last-minute appetizers that don’t seem last-minute at all;
- Last but not least, The Corporate Sister share tips on teaching your kids how to deal with money during the holidays.
Happy holidays!
The Corporate Sis.
by Solange Lopes | Dec 14, 2016 | Working Mom & Woman Tips
Nothing like stepping into stores filled with busy people, loads of stuff to buy and loud Christmas carol music during the holidays, accompanied with a bunch of toy-thirsty kids, to get your lifetime financial education in check…All the while realizing how much you need to teach your kids about the all-important fact that global warming notwithstanding, money still doesn’t grow on trees/wallets/purses/piggy banks, etc….
Let’s be real, holiday cheer aside, the “most wonderful time of year” is also the most commercial time of year, especially for anything kid-related. Which means you may have to start slipping a word or two to your kids about the fact that just because you have a purse doesn’t mean it’s filled with money. And that if we could buy the entire store worth of toys, we wouldn’t be frantically clipping BJ’s coupons every weekend…Just sayin’…
But are the holidays really the best time to teach kids about money? Isn’t it supposed to be a time of happiness, and cheer and… record spending? Must we ruin the mood and start giving out lessons on the importance of fiscal responsibility to little people who still believe in the magic of Santa Claus and TV toy commercials?
There actually isn’t a better time to do so…And if you ask me, here are a few lessons every fiscally-concerned parent can pass on to their kids somewhere in the midst of Christmas carols and finding a new spot for the Elf on the Shelf:
Lesson #1: Start with what you have!
Start at the beginning, that is, with what you already have. I remember growing up in Senegal, West Africa, and celebrating Christmas in the simplest of ways. Not because we didn’t have enough, but because we had a whole lot more than many around us…
Have your children look around over the holidays and make a quick inventory of everything they have, from a roof over their heads to food on the table and toys they even forgot about. Make it a game to see who comes up with the most items to be grateful for. Then explain how all this “stuff” they have costs money too.
The sooner they understand that pretty much every material thing around them is obtained with money, the sooner they realize its impact.
Lesson #2: Want What You Need!
My mother used to perform an audit of mine and my siblings’ Christmas lists before mailing them to Santa. And the recurring question as she’d carefully scan our wishes lists would always be: “Hmmm…I wonder if Santa’s going to ask if you really need this?”
Which of course in our cute little curly heads didn’t add up at all at the time…Isn’t Santa just supposed to be a wish-granting machine? No one has ever mentioned the new implementation of a “wants vs. needs” system…At least, we didn’t hear it in the news…
Yet invariable each year, my siblings and I would get more of the stuff we really needed vs. the stuff we wanted. Santa’s administration was being overhauled…
How about asking your kids the same question? What do they really need as opposed to just wanting it? Ask them about how they would use the items on their list and how that would help them and others? The sooner they learn to make the difference between what they need vs. what they want, the easier it will be to learn about how to spend their money (and yours)…
Lesson#3: The name of the game is “Earn It”!
Your kids see you going to work every day, or striving in your own business to earn an income. Similarly, they may earn their allowances by doing some chores in the house, or keeping their grades up, or even behaving exceptionally well.
The principle should be the same during the holidays. Have they earned their (long) Christmas gift lists? What have they done to deserve all that “stuff”? Along with their Christmas list, ask them to also make a list of all the positive things they’ve accomplished throughout the year. Some of their answers may have you stitches…
Then, if your kids are slightly older (10 and over), ask them to name a few people they admire who’ve created great things. They may be able to come up with names like Steve Jobs (Apple), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Walt Disney (Disney), etc…They may have to google some of these names, but all in all, it should be a fun and educational game for the whole family to play.
At the end of the day, you want them to link money and rewards to actions. The more positive their actions, the more money and rewards they’ll be able to earn…
Lesson#4: Look Into the Future!
“I want it NOW!” How many times have you heard your kids, or any kid for that matter, say this? For most kids, the here and now is really all that matters. Especially during the holidays…But it’s also a great time to teach them about investing in their own futures…
Ask them what BIG dream they have for the future? Do they want to go visit Grandma in Senegal next summer? Or go back to that awesome summer camp they so enjoyed last year? Then introduce the concept of asking for/starting a savings fund to meet that goal/dream/objective. Consider offering them shares of stock into their favorite companies for instance…This will plant the seed of investing into the future for them…
Make it a family game and have everyone share their long-term goals/dreams, and maybe add an item or two in their gift list around investments and savings…
Lesson#5: Giving brings more!
One principle that tends to get overlooked when it comes to educating kids about money is the concept of giving. From tithing to giving money to charities and causes we believe in, giving has incredible power. We give to help others, to sow back into the world, and that’s also how we create channels of prosperity that benefit everyone, us included.
Challenge your kids this holiday season to add a “Giving” section to their Christmas list. Whether it’s donating their time to a soup kitchen, or making handmade cookies for children in need, or buying a toy for another kid, help them link together the concepts of receiving and giving. Make it fun by having the whole family participate as well!
How are you going to teach your kids about money this holiday season?
Cheers!
The Corporate Sis.
by Solange Lopes | Dec 9, 2016 | Career
This is our weekly career and lifestyle news roundup, where we round up exciting news of the last week and we let you have it…ahem, news-wise that is…
Think of it as your career gossiping section on steroids…
And while you’re at it, follow us on Facebook, Twitter,IG, and Pinterest!
Here we go…
- In interesting news this week, the LinkedIn Blog has officially announced that Microsoft has acquired Linked In, which also translates: “look forward to some amazing new ways of searching for jobs!”;
- Not sure what to get for the Office Secret Santa event? Glassdoor lists 7 last minute gifts (under $25);
- Looking to change your business and life for the better? Sallie Krawcheck of Ellevate Network has a radical (and life-changing) approach;
- Did you know looking visibly happy can hurt your career? Read more on Fast Company’s take on it;
- Want to improve yourself for free this week? The Muse has some amazing suggestions;
- Job hunting this week? The Glassdoor Blog lists 13 companies hiring this month (yes, in December).
- Speaking of jobs, Inc. just published Glassdor’s 50 top companies to work for in 2017;
- Networking events coming up? Ellevate has a 5 tips to turn these into effective and fun times;
- Looking for workwear with super powers? Corporette lists some great options with secret shaping powers (hello hourglass silhouette);
- Pantone’s 2017 Color of the Year is out, and Food52 has a few (interesting) thoughts on it;
- You don’t want to miss out on Ellevate Network‘s list of top resources for working women;
- Elf on the Shelf, anyone? Here are 3 lessons our family elf taught us this holiday season!
Happy Friday!
The Corporate Sis.
by Solange Lopes | Dec 8, 2016 | Working Mom & Woman Tips
So our family finally caught up with the #ElfontheShelf tradition this year. After much deliberation (which in “mommy brain time” means about ten seconds of uninterrupted free thinking), it was decided…So I went on the hunt for what would be our very own #Elfontheshelf, you know, the one that would fit into our slightly crazy, laundry-challenged, on-the-run family of four…
And on a damp Sunday morning after church, I found her in a corner of a Kohl’s store, the last girl #ElfontheShelf from the entire store inventory. It was love girl crush at first sight! Of course, it had to be a girl, because girls can do anything and Mommy’s way too much of a feminist to put the slightest dent into her lifelong theory on gender equality…Even when it comes to toys and the magic of the holidays…
Elf on the Shelf
So there I was, female Elf on the Shelf in hand, feminist pride in tow, toting our brand new tradition back home on a damp December morning. After an elaborate and quite spirited trick, which included the hubby hiding the car around the corner, ringing the bell and leaving the Elf package at the doorstep, Snowflake was officially adopted in the family. Which also meant as new parents, we implicitly signed on the invisible dotted line of the holiday magic, promising to perpetuate the tradition of the Elf going back to the North Pole to report on the kids’ behavior every night and coming back to crash in a new spot every morning.
As with any adoption of a new family member, there’s bound to be hiccups. Which may or may not include forgetting to move Snowflake a couple of nights and having to come up with semi-scientific justifications accompanied with straight parental faces. Or resorting to the unethical excuse of an inanimate object to get little people to behave in the interest of getting more inanimate objects to celebrate spending more money and having more stuff….Don’t judge us…
But (and there’s always a but), there are also always some lessons to be learnt as we tiptoe the fine line between wise parenting, cute holiday traditions and the need to just pee alone once in a great while. And for us, it came in the form of five interesting take-aways from adopting a girl elf in our slightly crazy, laundry-challenged household:
There’s Magic In Movement.
“Why does the Elf have to move all the time, Mommy?”
And why do these kids come up with questions that force you to think overtime? I mean, it’s enough to complete the year-end report, think about where I last put the keys, and devise a miraculous alternative to clean laundry. Now, to figure out why the Elf moves all the time, and has to go back hang out at the North Pole and come back to crash for breakfast, really, dude?
Fast-forward to a couple of cups of coffee, and some temporarily lifted brain fog…
“Because when she moves, she creates magic. She can fly to the North Pole and help Santa, and come back to a different place, and do it even better the next day.”
I had to give myself a virtual high-five for this one, especially considering this all happened before looking fully human early in the morning.
But the point is, really, there’s magic in movement, in doing something, anything, in not being at the same place all the time. Not living through the same experiences every year for 75 years and calling it a life…
As I drove to work that morning, I thought the Elf was pretty cool doing her own thing, switching it up all the time, and creating magic in the process. Maybe I could take a cue or two from her this year…
Which brings me to….
Change Is A Constant.
“But does the Elf move every day, Mommy? Don’t her wings get tired? And where are her wings anyways?”
See, that’s the problem with kids nowadays. We want them to be smart, inquisitive and all. And next thing you know, they’re asking you questions you can’t answer…I mean, I grew up in a household of four in West Africa, which also meant if you found an #ElfontheShelf and let it go to the North Pole to hang out, she wasn’t coming back no how…
“Change is good baby! She’s always moving and going places and seeing different things.”
I also wanted to add that we were running out of places to move Snowflake, and keep her looking all fresh and cool every morning. But that’s the thing with life, and parenting, and everything in else in between too, right?
You constantly have to update yourself, upgrade yourself, and stay in the mix, while still looking fresh and cool every morning…
Accountability is Cool.
Day 1: Oops, we forgot to move the #Elfontheshelf !
Like, really, we’re the parents here. With a gazillion electronic devices throughout the entire house, no one thought to set an alarm, a reminder, an automatic slap to let that poor Elf go hang out in the North Pole and move her the next morning…Really?
As much as we wanted to hold the kids accountable for behaving well so the Elf wouldn’t go back to the North Pole and tell on them (isn’t that tattle-telling?), we also had to be accountable. As in, being the adults and actually doing what we said we would…
We teach better what we need to learn, right? And sometimes as parents, in the shuffle of everything going on, it’s hard to keep ourselves accountable. Even to ourselves. I mean, I had vowed to keep myself accountable to make it to the gym and eat right. We all know what happened there…
As I was moving the Elf early this morning in between stubbing my toe on the Christmas tree and dropping coffee on my robe, I got to thinking about how a little inanimate object wrapped in a cute tradition can keep us in check…Teaching some things we forget along the way, and reminding us to pass it along…
And maybe that’s the true magic…
Plus the fact that I could swear this Elf be looking at me sideways every time I dip in the kids’ piggy bank for spare change…
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PS: Here are some great ideas of #ElfontheShelf displays you can get inspired from:
Happy Holidays,
The Corporate Sis…
by Solange Lopes | Dec 7, 2016 | Career, Find Your Purpose, Start Your Business
So it just hits you one day…After years in Big Corporate, doing the 9-to-5 thing, you’re finally ready to make the big JUMP into full-time entrepreneurship. Maybe up until now, you’ve been doing the side hustle thing here and there to lay the groundwork. But now, the anticipation is killing you, literally, and all you can think about is that fateful day when you can walk out the doors of Big Corporate, take a breath of fresh freedom air, and go on about your business, literally…
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If you’re smiling as you’re reading this, you may be one of the thousands of other corporate sisters planning to exit Cubicle World and strike out on your own….Except (screeching halt noise here), even if you decide to ditch plan B, you still need some form of a plan for your corporate exit. You know, something that lets you sleep at night and doesn’t have you hitting up your folks for yet another loan to make the mortgage this month…
I mean, if there’s anything that’s as scary and exciting as striking out on your own after years or decades of comfortable cubicle dwelling, it’s got to be related to fried ice cream rolled in sea salt caramel ice cream…You may need double layers of super-strong Dove anti-perspiring deodorant to make the move, but when it’s time, you know it’s time…
So if you’re just starting out on your Big Corporate Exit adventure, here are a few simple, straightforward steps you can start taking today to land on your entrepreneurial behind (and legs and elbows and side rolls) with as few bruises as possible:
You’ve got to know your “WHY” inside out!
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You won’t know whether going full-time to build your business will work (or be the flop of the decade). And no one can really blame you for that, that’s why it’s called a risk…But the very first thing you want to know as you’re lining your personal ducks in a row is WHY you’re even doing all this…
Is it desire for freedom? Is it because of this strong sense of Purpose that’s been egging you on for years now? Is it because you want to offer your kids a better shot at life and opportunities? Or a big giant combo of all the above, plus the all-consuming urge to share your vision and message with the world?
Whatever it is, you’ve got to be crystal clear about it! Sit with yourself every day, and write down your WHY, as long and cumbersome as the process may first appear to be. The point is to build this conviction so strongly within you that it becomes virtually unbreakable….And gives you the strength and motivation to go for it, all in!
Is Your Idea/Business/Desire Viable/Sustainable/Going to Help You Make Rent?
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As in, is the whole thing sustainable, i.e. does it have earning potential? In other words, can your business not only help you make rent, but actually turn a profit?
This is where you get out of Entrepreneurship Lalaland and actually look at reality right in the face. And start putting some numbers down on paper…
There are some important questions to ask yourself here:
- How will this make you money, i.e. what are you going to sell?
- Do you have a product/service and how much can you sell it for?
- Do you plan on creating products/services and how much revenue can they bring you?
- How much will you need to invest in your business periodically?
- What streams of income will you have?
- What will your strategy be?
- How will your organize your business?
- What does your market look like, i.e. who are your competitors, is there even demand for your products/services, etc?
- Etc….
All of these questions, and more, will help you put together a business plan, which is just another fancy term for your business GPS/roadmap for the next 3-5 years. The U.S. Small Business Administration has a great tool to guide you through creating your business plan.
What that will do for you is give you a clearer picture of where you’re dipping your pretty Louboutins in… Plus give you a serious reality check, so hold on to your open-toed Zanottis…
Got a Financial Plan?
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No one likes to be broke, ok? Which also means as you’re planning your heroic escape from Office Land, you need to secure yourself some coins in the meantime. You know, just in case your business doesn’t break the million-dollar finish line the first year…
But more seriously, a BIG part of your Big Corporate Exit plan is to avoid starvation and plain financial distress. So if you haven’t started just yet, it may be time to push on the Savings pedal, and make sure you have 9 months to a year worth of business expenses saved up. Ambitious? Yes, and so are you…
Remember that going from the security of a periodic paycheck to your own revenues and profits is not an exact science. You may have some great months, and some not so great months…You may have to re-invest in your business, or face unexpected expenses…So you want a cushion that lets you skip out on stress acne and all kinds of other premature aging signs….
Round Up Your Support System
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I don’t care how independent you are, you’re going to need some support. Let me repeat this again, more for myself than you: You’re going to need some support! Whether it’s emotional, spiritual, financial, or just someone to give you a hug and tell you you’re not actually making the biggest mistake of your life (which you’re not)…
Many entrepreneurs, especially women, forget this major part of building a business. It’s hard work, on top of everything you may already have on your plate. So rally your girlfriends, call your mama, hug your kids, whisper tender sweet words to your goldfish, rely on the support system you already have or start building it.
It doesn’t mean your bestie has to buy all your facial products, or subscribe to your daily podcast. But what it means is that when you’re hustling and doing your thing and going through Entrepreneur Jungle, you’re not all alone. And that counts…a lot….
Get Mentally Ready
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Mental toughness is par for the course. As much as you may have detested your informal meeting sessions on the daily at work, facing the pressure of being in business for yourself is a challenge.
So get your mental nerves/weapons/armor in place early on. Whether it’s developing a daily meditation practice, or getting a mentor, or even making exercise an integral part of your routine, start planning for ways to stay on top of the head game.
You’re in this to win, and winning starts in your mind. So get started…
Make Education a Priority
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Jumping in to your business means holding yourself accountable for what you know, and how you apply it in your organization. Which also means learning continuously, especially as you prepare to jump ship from Corporate.
Actually, there is no better time to learn about being an entrepreneur than while you’re still in Corporate. Use this time to learn more about management, leadership, as well as the tools you’ll need to strive on your own. If your business is related to your current job, now is the time to absorb as much training as possible. In any case, take every opportunity currently offered by your day job to educate yourself (within allowable and ethical limits, of course).
Put a Ring Date on It
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There’s no better motivator for action than a deadline! When you know you’ve got to get it done by a certain date, something just shifts in and around you to make it happen! The same applies to your Big Corporate exit plan!
After careful planning and preparation, or actually while you’re still planning and preparing, set a date for your glorious exit! Don’t just set it, but commit to it whole-heartedly. Once you do this, organize your deliverables, to-do’s and action steps around it.
Are you Ready to Start Your Big Corporate Exit Plan?
To Your Success,
The Corporate Sis.
