Last month, we introduced a new "Ask the Experts" series, featuring women entrepreneurs in Rhode Island. This month we learn about the marketing challenges of some of our local artists and their businesses.

We are pleased to interview Gail Ahlers from Ahlers Designs. Gail founded Ahlers Designs (www.ahlersgifts.com) in 1989 and is a RISD graduate. She has a collection of 1500 designs, and has had success growing her business through gift shows and relationships with stores, galleries and boutiques. Her company is located in the Hope Artiste Village in Pawtucket.

Gail is also President of the Foundry Artists Association and is busy with their upcoming Holiday Show, which features 65 local artists (www.foundryshow.com), December 6th - 16th. (This is a great opportunity to do some holiday shopping, and support local small businesses!)

Hear our interview with Gail now.

“Women’s Business: Speaking Frankly with MaryAnn and... Wendy?!”

We were recently delighted to accept an invitation from our good friend, Mary Ann Shallcross Smith to appear on her local cable TV show, Women's Business.  We are hoping to put a copy of the video on the site soon, but it is currently running on Wednesday afternoons at 12:30pm on RI Cox channels 13 or 18 (depending on where you live).

After the show, an interesting conversation took place in which Mary Ann shared that she was looking for a new co-host for the show, and - what do you know - Wendy is going to be a TV star!  We're so excited for this opportunity to work closely with Mary Ann in her efforts to educate young women about business matters.  Stay tuned for more news, and here's more on the show:

About the Show
Mary Ann Shallcross Smith has a doctorate in education and is the owner of Child Care Connection, Kids Klub and Comprehensive Child Care Services Network of RI. She also is the President of the Rhode Island Foster Parent Association Board and a CASA volunteer. Wendy Hanson is a Business Coach, co-founder of The Sassy Ladies (www.thesassyladies.com) and President of Corley Hanson Associates (www.corleyhanson.com ), an executive coaching and consulting organization.

Our combined experiences have taught us that our c ...

Writing Down Your Goals: Our Winter Solstice Celebration
Last summer, Miriam shared a book with Wendy and I called “Write It Down, Make It Happen”, by Henriette Anne Klauser. She felt that it offered great stories and ideas to help you ritualize and realize your goals. Miriam read it first, then Wendy and at a lunch discussion soon after, I couldn’t help but share their enthusiasm toward one chapter in particular. Of course, I skipped right to this chapter when it was my turn to read the book!

The author shared the story about a woman who adapted an old Indian ritual, which took place during the winter solstice, in which they declared what they wanted to usher out of their lives and what they wanted to usher into their lives. I couldn’t wait to do this with “my sassy sistahs”, but suggested we wait for the symbolic Winter Solstice on December 21^st. We agreed to calendarize it, and worry about the details later.

If you read the book, you will see the elaborate details of the author’s ceremony with her daughters and friends. Let’s just say it included rising before dawn, hiking to highlands and lowlands, and burning stuff outside in the cold of winter. We laughed at the way we chose to simplify, yet honor this ancient tradition. We did what any Sassy Lady would do – we took ourselves to dinner.

While we feasted on sushi, sake, and seaweed salad, we shared our wishes that we’d written on slips of paper. Some were things we wanted to “say goodbye to” from 2007 and beyond. Many more were things we wanted to “say hello to” in 2008 an ...

Many thanks to Kathleen Burns Kingsbury of KBK Connections for selecting Sassy Wendy as her “Leading Lady of the Month” for her December newsletter. If you hear Wendy calling herself “Ms. December,”—that’s what she is referring to, although she doesn’t mind if you think something else!

Kathleen Burns Kingsbury is a CTI trained coach, licensed mental health counselor, national speaker and an internationally published co-author of the book Weight Wisdom.

Check out the leadership interview below, and visit Kathleen's website, www.kbkconnections.com.  And, watch our podcast for an interview with Kathleen on a variety of topics including money issues for women and tooting your own horn!

Leading Lady of the Month: Wendy Hanson

Much love and gratitude to Eva Gregory, for joining our call today.  She shared her own story of experiencing business success by applying the principles of the Law of Attraction.

If you missed the call the first time around, you can now  listen to the audio file at your leisure !


Some of the lessons learned:

* With the Law of Attraction, the emphasis is on your emotion. What you put your focus on is what you will attract.  Ask yourself, "Am I moving towards what I want, or against where I want to be?" Emotional guidance is the litmus test for how you’re doing in your business . If it feels good, do more of it, if it doesn't, stop doing it.

Practical ideas for how women can use The Law of Attraction for their business :

- “ Amp it up! ” use The Law for everythi ...

The thought that I had to put a red pepper in the barbeque to get blackened and roasted totally l ...