Esther: Welcome back to The BusinessMakers Overtime Show heard here and online at thebusinessmakers.com. I'm Esther Steinfeld –

Katie: And I'm Katie Laird.

Esther: And we are back with another exciting segment three, our Special Features, and in this Special Features, we're actually going to talk a little bit about New Year's resolutions. Now I for one, as I've mentioned on the show, I don't do New Year's resolutions. But I do think that January of 2010 is a really good time to start thinking about your business goals and what you're gonna do differently this year.

Katie: And you know I'm in the exact same boat. I don't really do personal resolutions but when it comes to work stuff, holy moly.

Esther: Yeah.

Katie: Like, it's time. (Laughter)

Esther: Yeah and even if you don't wanna call it a New Year's resolution, just call it a goal.

Katie: Exactly.

Esther: Call, you know, where are you gonna be 365 days from now? Are you going to be doing exactly the same thing you did last year or are you gonna try to do things differently this year?

Katie: Exactly. So if you were to walk into my office right now, on my whiteboard, I actually have a list that says, "Ways That I will Kick Ass in 2010".

Esther: That's awesome.

Katie: So, that is what I call my resolutions. (Laughter)

Esther: That, you know – whatever works for you.

Katie: Exactly.

Esther: That's great. So Inc. Magazine actually asked seven kind of up-and-coming, I mean, these are already well-established companies, but not the biggest companies in the world. They're still small businesses.

Katie: Yes.

Esther: Asked the CEOs of these small businesses what they were resolving to do in 2010, and I wanted to share some of those with you, or we did, because they're so valuable and really things that everyone should think about doing.

Katie: Exactly.

Esther: So the first one is from a company that Katie and I both love called Mod Cloth. It's a, you know, kind of a vintage-y clothing site where we both shop and we love it. And the CEO, her name is Susan Gregg Koger, and one of her resolutions this year is to find a mentor and I think that's a very powerful thing. I mean if you don't have a mentor, at least someone you can ask business questions to, it's very difficult to navigate those waters.

Katie: Exactly. So another one of the CEOs that Inc. Magazine talked to is a lady named Ada Polla who's the CEO of skin care company, Alchemy Forever, and I really like her to do list because it's not just about her company but it's also about her personal goals that will really help her company to be better. So one of her resolutions is actually to take up yoga –

Esther: Oh.

Katie: - which makes me really happy. (Laughter)

Esther: Nice.

Katie: 'Cause I'm a hippie. And also to be on the Oprah show, but most importantly, to replace a lot of her emails with handwritten notes of thanks and gratitude.

Esther: Wow.

Katie: So really going into the year just knowing that not only are you wanting to just rock it out but really to show, kind of your gratefulness, your thankfulness to people that help you along the way. Like, that's – what a positive way to start the New Year out. I really dig that.

Esther: I like that.

Katie: Yeah.

Esther: So another one that I really liked was Maureen Kelly, the CEO of Tart Cosmetics. She actually plans to launch a new product in 2010. Now new products are actually a very awesome way to increase incremental revenue without having to pay a lot of extra money. Unless you, you know, if you don't have to develop the product yourself, just adding it to your website or adding it to your product line offering without actually developing it yourself can be a great way to bring in some extra money to your company.

Katie: Absolutely.

Esther: So think about, you know, where in your company or we're in your marketplace there are some holes and then try to fill those holes in the market with a new product.

Katie: Excellent. So another person that really resonated with me on this list is a gal named Grace Young who actually had a terrible biking accident several years ago and is just recovering, kinda personally and professionally. And so because of, you know, these things that have happened to her and all these, really, challenges she's faced, some of her biggest resolutions this year are much, much more community focused. Actually launching a corporate social responsibility program at her company, which is actually The Savvy Marketing Group, and most importantly, she's out there to continue biking but all for charity, saying that she's gonna sign up for these different events, different races, to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. So definitely wants to grow the business but really focusing on people that really need help, you know, just a way to really get their name out there and all of her employees' hearts in the right place, not just the bottom line, but that human bottom line.

Esther: Awesome. That's really – I think these are all great New Year's resolutions and actually I'm curious what your New Year's resolution is, for business, obviously, because we've actually talked about some of our personal goals or ways to kick ass in 2010 in a previous show. But I'm curious to know what you're going to do, business wise, differently this year.

Katie: So I don't know if this is me doing things differently but a really, really strong focus for me this year for you know, leading my team, leading my company, is just to work and to do every single thing that I do for our company, Schipul, with passion. So maybe it's less of a resolution, less of a goal, but more of a theme for 2010 is passion. So, you know, being able to eliminate – cut off some of the stuff that, you know, maybe isn't being, you know, such a great part of our business isn't bringing a lot of money, or maybe it is bringing in money but nobody's really getting on fire about it. It's not, you know helping our clients. It's not growing the community. So it's all about the passion this year for me. You know, I feel like I sound like a Latin lover, like – Esther, it's about the passion!

(Laughter)

Esther: I think that's a sound bite that our producer, John, is gonna be saving for a long time.

Katie: Oh, what do I do to myself sometimes?

Esther: It's gonna be like your turkey.

Katie: Exactly. Let's not even go there.

Esther: Yeah.

Katie: And if you put that turkey sound in John, I will find you. (Laughter) I will cut you.

John: You talkin' 'bout this gobble gobble?

Katie: I won't be doing the gobble gobble. But –

John: Gobble gobble gobble gobble!

Katie: Yeah, [makes turkey sound].

(Laughter)

Katie: Aw come on, man.

Esther: That's great.

Katie: So Esther, Esther, what about you? What is 2010 kinda bring for you? By jove, what will you make happen?

Esther: Well, here's what I'd really like to make happen. This is one of my goals and actually, I hate to admit this but it was actually one of my goals for 2009 that I didn't do.

Katie: Hey! Bring it back.

Esther: So, this is the year I'm doing this.

Katie: Yes.

Esther: I plan to learn a new skill that basically scares the crap out of me. That's what I'd really like to do and for me, that skill is really diving down deep and learning how to process all the analytics that we use at blinds.com.

Katie: Oh.

Esther: The analytics sits on the other side of the room from me. I basically to say, "Hey, can you give me this metric?" And he puts it in his little –

Katie: Bleep bloop bloop. (Laughter)

Esther: - little number box and out pops a number. And –

Katie: The magic of science.

Esther: Exactly. So this year I'd really like to get a better grip on how we come up with these numbers. I'm like a numberphobe.

Katie: I understand.

Esther: I don't, I don't look at numbers. They don't like me. I don't like them and it's always been that way and I've been very happy in my life. I haven't needed – I did my pre-algebra and that was just fine, I didn't need any more than that. This year, I'd really like to learn.

Katie: Just rock it out, yeah.

Esther: Just learn.

Katie: Conquer that fear.

Esther: Exactly. I'm terrified of what that will entail but –

Katie: Excellent. But this time next year?

Esther: Now all of you are my – I have to be accountable to all of you listeners. So –

Katie: Exactly. Exactly, but think this time next year this is gonna be such an easy thing for you.

Esther: I hope.

Katie: I mean like it's not – yeah. You're not – you probably will forget to mention it. There be like, "Oh, please." (Laughter)

Esther: Oh I – psh. Psh! Whatever.

Katie: Creating your own database-driven amazing analytics programs and well, you know.

Esther: Oh my God. Well that would be truly phenomenal. Well, we hope that you've got some great New Year's resolutions in the pipeline, too.

Katie: Yes and actually we wanna hear all about them.

Esther: Yeah.

Katie: You know, whether they're personal, professional, everything in between. So definitely if you're on Twitter, send us a tweet at twitter.com/overtimeshow and see us on Facebook at facebook.com/ -

Esther: The BusinessMakers.

Katie: - The BusinessMakers.

Esther: Yep.

Katie: And – yeah, don't be shy. Like we love to not only see them but perhaps have you on the show to talk about how it's going, you know?

Esther: Absolutely.

Katie: And I mean maybe you start of the year going in one direction and June or July comes around and you're off, you know, in a completely different amazing tangent in your business world and hey, we'd like to know about that too.

Esther: Sure. So drop us a line. You can also contact us at our website, thebusinessmakers.com/overtime.

Katie: That's right.

Esther: So you've been listening to The BusinessMakers Overtime Show, heard here and online at thebusinessmakers.com. I'm Esther Steinfeld –

Katie: And I'm Katie Laird.

Esther: - and we will be back with you next week.