The BOSS Network Blog

There are people around us who are living paycheck-to-paycheck. Having to make daily decisions about whether to pay the utility bill or buy medical supplies; whether to save their last few dollars for gas for their "hoopty" or a meal for their family. When I hear someone like that use the term,"I can't afford it," I accept it. However, there are many more women who regularly sing the "I can't afford it." song. It typically involves purchases that would benefit them long term: the expeditures that fall within the self-enrichment or personal development areas. Women often find funds for material things, because to some of us these possessions represent affluence. Too often we get caught up on external appearances, while our inner self is crying for help. " The largest room in the world is the room for improvement ." We find money for everything and everybody else, however, identifying financial resources to invest in ourselves can be a ch...

How can you be an inventor? Easy! Start thinking. Start logging all those subconscious thoughts you had about an idea to the forefront. How many times have you said, ‘If only this could do this or that?’ Or how many times have you thought ‘I wish this had a feature like this?’ That’s all inventing is. It’s really that simple. And how many times have you seen a new product and thought, ‘Why didn’t I think of that? Or ‘Oh my goodness, I had that same idea!’ “Invention is the mother of necessity”-Thorstein Veblen. I recommend you keep a pad just for ideas handy. Write them down as you think about them and write the date (this can come in handy later). Then you can research if it exists or not. What may surprise you, is that only about 2% of inventions make money. Which means most patented inventions are just that, an invention. There can be a number of reasons why inventions never see the light of day. It could be the inventor gave up on it, ...

There is finally a shift happening in the paradigm of leadership across all industries. With the recent departures of powerful male leaders in film, television, radio, government and more, women are coming together and demanding long-overdue respect in the workplace. I have experienced my own #metoo scenarios over the years, and shrugged it off as flirting, “boys being boys”, no big deal or just plain gross! I, too, did not report it at the time for multiple reasons: fear of losing my job, not wanting to have a bad reputation, not wanting to be the topic of office gossip and not wanting to jeopardize my career growth. Women are coming together like never before. For too long, women and people of color have feared mentoring, supporting, advocating and promoting others who looked like them in the workplace, mainly out of perceived fear of negatively impacting their own career trajectory. This mindset must change in order for true change to happen. There also needs to be more diver...

Tamara Garrison-Thomas is a Beauty Boss & Online Start-Up Strategist specializing in helping women over 30 start, plan and execute their online business. If you need help getting focused, setting up your online business and developing an execution plan, subscribe to her site and find out more information on her one-on-one business setup tutorial sessions . Do you have too many “free” or “paid” webinars collecting virtual dust in your inbox? Do you find yourself signing up for the next free webinar or buying the next great webinar hoping it will finally give you the answers you have been looking for? Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure you’re gaining knowledge but you’re still not sure how to exactly apply these concepts and tools to your business. You’re getting antsy and frustrated because your business idea is slipping away more and more as time fades away from you. It’s time to conquer your obsession with information!  Setting up a business is hard enough. Don’t make it e...

Life, business and the entire balancing act can become strained when we stop paying attention to what matters. We pay attention to the details of soap operas, television dramas, the news, and even the foolishness that occurs in the communities around us. However, when we focus on what is happening in our own lives, we can see our way through and toward the breakthroughs we seek. When individuals pay closer attention to the happenings in their own lives, they open a new path to thinking, reflecting, and responding. As this happens we tune in to what we need to accomplish the most, what we worry about the most, and what we desire to attain and acquire the most. All of these levels of attainment can bring about worrisome behavior. However,  its not uncommon to worry. But, what is bothersome is that few ever put their hand and heart to the plow to work out what needs to be hammered out to deal with the behavior and find balance. Why? Because it hurts, its painful, its detailed-o...

Despite being educated, experienced and often overqualified, my late husband rarely asked for or  negotiated compensation for which he was deserving. He was a great man, passionate about his career, but like so many others, he grew content with  receiving salary increases that by employment market standards, were average at best. He believed his  performance would speak for itself and that he would ultimately receive his  "just due,"  As a general  practice, this is often thought to be the  mindset of women  in business, not men. It took several years of disappointing annual salary reviews before he realized that the “squeaky wheel  does, in fact, gets the oil.” He eventually welcomed my often-offered, never-accepted advice and  applied the negotiating skills and knowledge that I was more than willing to provide. 15+ years of human resources executive experience afforded me not only the knowledge of assisting  others in thi...

Most of us believe in happiness or at least in the theory of its overflowing joy and ever-filling peace in our lives. If we’re not experiencing happiness in the present, we like to think that it’s waiting on us somewhere in the future. If we could just make it to retirement or into the new year, happiness will meet us there. If we could land a higher paying job, if we had a better boss, if we could drop the weight, or if we were married; happiness would be possible.   For too many people, happiness is possible … if only. In one of my recent Career Masterminds a participant said, “I can’t be happy when I’m working for a jerk.” That statement alone got me thinking about the countless times I’ve heard others align their level of happiness with current circumstances. Why do we allow our circumstances to determine our happiness as if our lives were a mathematical if/ then equation? It was Anne Frank who said, “We all live with the objective of being...