My Hero!

One of the challenges facing us as small (micro) business owners in a service profession is finding good business role models. It may have become cliched but when you are stumped, it can help to ask WWxD (What Would [insert role model's name here] Do)?

What should you look for in a role model?

They have to do business with values you have or would like to have.

It's fine if they are in the same profession but you can learn a lot from people in different professions as well (though it helps if they are operating in a similar environment to you).

They don't have to be everything you want to be; you can have multiple role models for different aspects of your business.

The better you know them personally, the better a role model they are. Lots of us list Oprah Winfrey as a role model for all the good works she's known for and for her popularity. However, I'm betting that few of you reading this have a good understanding of how her organization works and what it takes for her to do those good works and have that popularity. It's more valuable to have a role model who's more immediate.

I have a few myself.

Kitty Southworth LMT: Kitty is my business partner, friend, and for many years we were each others MTs. I'm impressed by Kitty's natural inclination to work a deal. Her instinct with her business dealings with her clients is "how can we make this work?" and she's as flexible as she can be without losing herself.

Jaime Bernardo LMT: Jaime has a true gift for coming up with new ideas and new endeavors and attracting people to join him. He never seems to sweat the small stuff and seems to walk through his business life with a "hey, it'll all work out" attitude. And it frequently does!

Stephanie Bernardo LAC: Yes, Jaime's wife. She is an acupuncturist with a really solid vision of what she wants to grow, what kind of numbers will help her get there, when she can afford to grow, what kind of people she works best with, etc. Plus, she is a truly gifted acupuncturist.

Margo Bowman, CPA, LMT: First and foremost, Margo is my go-to person for accounting, bookkeeping, and taxes. She is sooooo patient when it comes to teaching MTs about these things because she truly understands how scary it can be for us. She is also beautifully generous with her time and expertise. She is a superb example of the "abundance" mentality.

Adriana DiFranco, copywriter: Adriana is not in the healing arts, she's in advertising. Over the 15 years I've known her, I've seen her throw her creativity into her work and get laid off way too many times because the kind of small companies she likes to work for can be unstable. But every time it happens, she picks herself off, dusts herself (and her resume) off, and keeps on plugging. She's built a pretty good freelance base that has come in handy between gigs. That's resiliance.

Clare Reece-Glore, living-with-dogs coach: Clare owns and operates YAYdog to help people choose well and live well with dogs. This is a second....third...fourth? career for her but dogs have always been a passionate part of her life. I admire her imagination for new business opportunities and her ability to get into the down and dirty of getting her businesses set up, making contacts and building relationships, and seeing connections everywhere she turns. I also am impressed by her ability to recognize an unserved niche -- working with people to integrate dogs into their lives, not just train their dogs to "behave".

These are some of my role models. These are people I go to sometimes and say "help me think this through". Who serves as role models for you as a business owner?