I Met Three Amazing Women in 24 Hours

I've learned a couple things this week. First, having five meetings in a day pretty much precludes you from getting anything else done. Second, I am privileged to know some incredible women. I wanted you to know just a little bit about these wonderful people whom I had the chance to spend time with in such a short period this week.

Friend and former Clovis Chamber member Tracy Barnes came in to rejoin with her business, Premier Bride. She and business partner Kristy Montgomery started with the magazine Premier Bride, added a bridal show, a second city version of the Premier Bride magazine, a third and original magazine called "His" and now they are opening the Premier Bridge Wedding Center. They have sold His Magazine to a local entrepreneur, but they still run all the other businesses with just two people.

In addition to this budding empire, Tracy has two children, one is just barely two. She is also very creative and has had to slow herself down with all the ideas that she's had for expanding their business. One thing at a time, Tracy! I don't know how Tracy and Kristy do all of this, but now that they are back in the Chamber, I'll be studying their techniques.

The next morning, I had a phone conversation with Lisa Marie Platske, who very graciously gave me her time even though we've only met in person once (although we've maintained contact via email). She gave me great advice, based on her personal experience, but she said one thing in particular that is going to stick with me:

It's not about starting big,
it's about just starting and having a big plan.

Isn't it obvious that someone who wrote a book called "Designing your Destiny" would think like this?

And finally, I met with Jill Hendrickson, who is also an author. We "met" on Twitter, then she attended the Prosperity Forum last week. Jill has traveled extensively and we both have a great passion for the food and culture of Japan, where she lived and worked for 10 years. She also spent a great deal of time traveling and living in Italy, which was the inspiration for her book "Lose Weight, Italian Style!" Jill has an extensive journalism background, so she felt very comfortable with the writing. Now, it's time for her to step out of her comfort zone and do the marketing and networking. Can it be "out of your comfort zone" if you seem to be so comfortable with it? It seems to me that Jill will be learning this new skill very quickly.

I've just started reading the book, but I really appreciate her perspective in just this little bit. It is definitely less a "diet" book and much more about a luxurious culinary lifestyle.


I hope all of you will take the time to learn more about the businesses of these incredible women. Perhaps you'll be fortunate and meet them some day.