Is there Hope for Success in this economy?

Have you ever asked yourself "Is there hope for success in this economy?" I certainly have. As I watch the faces of women I love tighten with stress as they wonder will they and their husbands keep their jobs, it seems that hope is being squeezed like orange juice, it just doesn't end up tasting sweet. Billions of dollars, nearing a trilion in fact, are being poured into the economy but who is getting the money and the relief? Do you know any one personally that is benefiting that is hurting?

It seems that in these difficult times we will need one another to support, encourage, and share with. What can we do to enhance our success? Well I have a couple of thoughts to share.

1. Find people that you can help. For those of us who have clothes, dishes, extras of any kind, let's find people who need them and create our own small form of personal relief.

2. Find ways to recreate community. We have become isolated from one another and now it is time to recreate that community unity once again. Get to know your neighbors, offer to watch their backs, let's get back to borrowing eggs and taking one another cookies and brownies.

3. Network, network, network. We must expand our circles of influence and increase our social capital. It is much easier to get things done if you know people who have similar desires that want to unite to help you. Whether it is networking at the Chamber of Commerce, BNI, the new women's networking organization The Heart Link Network, face to face women's networking or social networking like Facebook, Linkedin or The Heart Alliance or Link to Success Business Networking, these groups can be expand our friends, our resources, our minds and especially our hearts.

4. Take time to be thoughtful and kind. This is a time for random acts of kindness. Share food with your neighbors. Send more cards. Send Out Cards is a wonderful and easy way to send thoughtful cards. Volunteer to do something worthwhile and hour or two a week, or month. Or do something as easy as visiting the lovely Heart-Notes Garden created by The Heart Link Network as a gift to the world. It is a "no cost", wonderful way to send a thoughtful note by planting a flower of appreciation, remembrance, thoughtfulness, or kindness in an Internet garden of love.

5. Spread inspiration. We must be harvesters of hope. Feed hope. Spread hope. Give hope. It is in this gift that we will truly find the HOPE for success in this economy.


Dawn Billings, CEO and Founder of TheHeartLinkNetwork, TheHeartAlliance, LinktoSuccess Business Networking. Dawn is the author of 15 books on parenting, relationships and entitlement. Dawn is the creator of the new parenting toy/tool called Capables. Dawn was selected as one of the nation's emerging women leaders by Oprah Magazine and The White House Project, and selected as one of 15 Women of Achievement by the YWCA in Georgia

What Have You Got to Give?

Have you ever attended a networking event that on your way to the event, the thought first and foremost in your mind was about what you hoped to get? Isn't that why we network in the first place? We hope to grow our businesses by creating new relationships, right? We all want to grow our businesses. We all want to sell our products, get more clients, build our organizations, live a life of where we feel secure about paying our bills, that's what we all want, that's why we network in the first place, right?

The problem is that if we enter a networking event thinking about what we want to get, people can feel it. Ninety percent of all communication is non verbal. People can literally hear our hearts. If that is true, and it is, maybe it would serve us better to attend our networking events with a different question on our hearts, like "What Have I Got to Give?" What might happen if we ask ourselves what we have to give that might help someone? Whether it is an encouraging word, a great idea, a bit of information or marketing tip that will help someone solve a problem, a referral, a sale, a lead? What if when we entered our networking event, we actually paid attention to others and looked for ways to make a positive difference in their businesses and their lives.

I believe that when we think about what we have to give to help someone, or how we can contribute to others, people can hear our intentions and they respond gratefully. Networking can provide us an opportunity to contribute and be generous. Contribution and generosity actually cause us to feel hopeful and happy. When people feel hopeful and happy they actually are more generous. It is a wonderful, self perpetuating, optimistic outlook that reinforces positive connections.

So if you really want the most benefit out of every networking experience, you might want to change the question on your mind when you network from "I wonder what I will get from this event?" to "What have I got to give?"

Dawn Billings, CEO & Founder of The Heart Link Network and www.TheHeartAlliance.com (a no cost women's networking online community) and Link to Success Business Networking