Blog Tour: Step Into Your Future and Giveaway

For as long as I remember, I've wanted to open up a tea room or bed and breakfast with my mom. We've already started compiling our tea room collection; tea pots, linens, and china, and every time we add to it, we feel like we're one step closer to realizing our dream.

Last year, when my mom and I really started to talk to people about our business, we spoke to the owner of a tea room that we loved and discussed the possibility of buying it from her. She wasn't going to give it up to just anyone because she had built a clientele and a great reputation in a very affluent area. She wanted to pass it on to just the right people. I felt like I had a connection with her. We had really only entertained the idea and when my mom and I went to make a reservation for tea there a couple weeks later in hopes of entertaining the idea some more, the number was disconnected. The tea room was no more.

And in hindsight, that made the reason why we visited that tea room in the first place a bit more ironic. Originally, we planned to hold my sister's baby shower at a tea room near my home. A quaint tea room with delicious food that we had grown to love. The week before the shower, they called to say they were closing unexpectedly and they were sorry but they were going to be unable to host the shower. That's how we found this other tea room; they were able to graciously accomodate us last minute. So we were saddened when we learned that just a few weeks later, it had also closed.

Was it the economy? What was making these tea rooms, a favorite of so many, suddenly close their doors? This made me worry about other women entrepreneurs whose businesses are suddenly slowing, especially because I was hoping to become a businesswoman myself. And when I saw the title of this book and the opportunity to be a part of the book tour for Step Into Your Future: A Businesswoman's Path to Profits, I jumped at it.

It may not be the right time for us (I know there will be an opening for us some day...) but I want women everywhere to have a shot at success in this trying economy. This business planning book provides business owners with, among other things, tools to help boost profits and ways to attract clientele. Here are excerpts from an interview with Rosemary Hossenlopp, the author:

“What’s specific inspiration changed your life … and why do you feel it had such
a ‘mind-shifting’ impact on you?”

Rosemary Hossenlopp: I believe in easy; an easy way to see what you
need to do and came up with a quick process that allowed me to identify steps
that accelerated my success."

“What specific incident inspired you to gather together this information and put together a book?

Rosemary Hossenlopp: "Let’s face it, being a Small Business Owner is HARD. You don’t have time to focus. You’re stressed and you rush around. You’re all over the place; catching planes, picking up kids and completing proposals and contracts. And it seems like you’re doing this all at once. You’re lost in the trees and blind to the forest.

Rosemary Hossenlopp: "The heart of success is figuring out what gets you the best results. You hear about business planning techniques that can help you focus on getting the business results you want. But you procrastinate in implementing them. I know this because I have been there too. It is overwhelming when you need to be the plumber, the accountant, the salesman and the person who delivers the goods. It is hard to make the time to work “on” the business and not work “in” the business." More planning advice is available at www.StepIntoYourFuture.com/teleseminar/

This book is about realizing and maximizing your business potential and if you're not seeing the profits you should be, especially in this economic climate, this book will help guide you in a better direction. I don't know what caused my favorite tea rooms to close, but I only wish that they had something like this to help them turn it around.

But, the good news here is, one of you might! I'm giving away one copy right here. So leave me a comment by Friday, March 27th at 8pm et and I will randomly select the winner and announce it on Saturday. Enjoy!

Blog Tour: Step Into Your Future and Giveaway

https://babytealeaves.blogspot.com/2009/03/blog-tour-step-into-your-future-and.html