I can’t believe it’s almost LaborDay!  This summer has just flown by.  Now, who’sready to kick it in 4^th Quarter?  Hopefully,you’ve been getting some incredible inspiration from all thesewonderful ladies this year and reading some new ideas on how toblow the doors off for your yearend.  My dad always said,“80 percent of issues come down to the personnel” and these nextladies I’m going to introduce you to have figured thatout.  Please welcome, Bola, Morgan and Kelly into thefold.  These ladies have learned it’s all about people,whether  on your staff, in your sales territory or whenyou’re networking.

Bola Sokunbi, Clever Girl Finance

“Over the last 12 months, mybiggest accomplishment growing my business has been hiring theright people to support our growth! The people that make up theClever Girl Finance team have been instrumental in our scaling fromone financial education course to now 35+ in the span of a year. Asyou know, hiring the is one of the biggest struggles businessesface and I’ve made many mistakes hiring the wrong people in thepast. But this past year, I really focused on the culture I wantedto create and the values I was looking for in my team. My secondbiggest accomplishment was finally getting my first book out intothe world, after working on it for two years!”

Morgan Franke, Principal Financial Group

“I recently led a grassroots marketing campaign in a new firmterritory resulting from a strategic acquisition. The campaignconsisted of a tactical phased email campaign complemented by aphysical mailing campaign and targeted advertisements. Within thefirst two months after the campaign concluded, the firm had gainedthree new clients in the targeted territory and several scheduledmeetings with other prospective clients. Leading this campaign gaveme the opportunity to quantify our marketing ROI and show firmstakeholders the importance of crafting specific and targetedmarketing initiatives with a call to action.“

Kelly Jackson Pastore, Kaiser Permanente NWRegion

“Being a successful businesswoman has been a long uphill road that has shifted for me in thepast 12 months and has become extremely rewarding.

In thinking about how I got to where I am today, it comes downto three basics: relationships, personal goals and character.Everyone says, “It’s all in who you know.”  This issomething that I found to be true in the relationships I have builtwithin my network.  When you build strong, successfulrelationships with others, you become a trusted source and peoplekeep coming back. How did I do this? I got involved. I joinedseveral boards, volunteered, and I started spending time withpeople I respected in the industry.

This led me to set some personal goals:  1) Start withsmall goals, then slowly add more, 2) Be very careful withcommitments; you can say no and 3) Be truly honest with yourselfwhen it comes to work-life balance.

As I worked toward these goals, I realized that while goals aregreat, it’s who you are when you achieve the goals thatcounts.  For me, the last 12 months have been a journeywhich continues today and will continue tomorrow. Go thrive!”

As always, if you know of great women in the field who areworking hard to make this industry even better, send me an emailintroduction to [email protected]. I’d love to connect!