We All Need A Rest...What About You?

Are you an entrepreneur that works around the clock and seldom takes time for yourself? If you answered yes, you may want to read more.
As I build my magazine business, I find I work harder now than I did when I had a nine-to-five job. I am up all night writing, thinking, planning, and ensuring I am on top of my game. But when the weekend arrives, I find myself exhausted. I have cram so much into my week that I neglect to do something fun for myself. I realize I cannot function like this any longer. Not only is it unhealthy, you lose so much life when you have just one focus.
I now understand that I have to find what I call “pure time” for myself- which means  time that I do not do anything related to my business. I just relax and enjoy life. As I mentioned before you can lose so much time and forget about other things that are important. For me, I have forgotten how to do absolutely nothing or enjoy a hobby. For example, I love bookstores. I have not enjoyed browsing and lingering in the magazine section finding books and magazines of interest in months.
I have come up with tips that I am going to adopt to get me back on track. For me being a wife and caring for my family is most important to me besides my business. After re-evaluating my goals I wanted to share the tips I will use to reconnect to my “pure time.”

1. Schedule specific time for your “pure time” at least once a week. It can be an hour or half a day. But schedule the time like you would with a client.
2. Reconnect with your hobby or activity that brings you pure joy. Choose an activity that releases the stress such as a vacation, exercise.
3. Spend time with friends and family.
4. For married entrepreneurs, adopt a date night; it can help recapture the fire.

In thinking about my work-life-balance, I found this article that provides other tips to think about as you move forward in your journey. I am going to start now by scheduling time to go to the bookstore this week. Click Here
What steps are you going to take? Let me know at DamitaShanklin@aol.com.

Damita Miller-Shanklin is the Founder/Publisher of Ujima Magazine(www.ujimamagazine.com) and the co-host of Ujima TV with Damita and Evelina.

Networking Makes Me Sweat

When I started my business almost three years ago, it was suggested to me that I attend some networking meetings. This made me very uncomfortable because I don’t do well meeting strangers or starting a conversation. But after trying to avoid it, I finally attended some events.

Most, if not all, of the networking events I attended were for women business owners and entrepreneurs because for me I needed to connect with other women who could identify with my journey of being a small business owner. I attended luncheon events where I was supposed to get up, introduce myself, and start conversations with whoever was walking by. I did not do well with these activities. My palms became sweaty and I didn’t know what to say besides “hi.” I soon learned that attending networking events with a lot of people did not work for me. But what about getting my brand out there and how could I help people to recognize my magazine was in the community?

As I thought about the amount of time and money I spent attending these events where I was too uncomfortable to get anything out of it, I decided to take a different route. My mentor, Florence Maxwell, taught me that you have to develop relationships with people to get most things done. This particular way of networking is slower and depends more on true relationships with people. I do one on one networking because I find it to be more personable, there is clearer communication, and the person you speak with gets to know you and your business better. I have been doing this type of networking the last four months and I find it more compatible with my personality and my comfort zone.  I feel so much better and no one has to see me sweat. Not to mention these contacts are more beneficial because you can be specific about who you meet with and it cost less than paying for a networking event that may not give what you need in return.

This is not to say I don’t attend any networking events, but when I want to talk to someone about my business or what they do, I contact them directly and set up a meeting. This way may not work for everyone but it is an option for people like me that have a hard time meeting people in big open spaces.

Forbes Women always have good articles that speak to the woman entrepreneur. Take a look at an article by J. Maureen Henderson entitled 3 Myths About Networking That Need to Die.

Even though she says one of the myths is “I’m a Terrible Networker” has to stop, I still feel I am not a good networker in big settings but I do real well one on one.

How has networking helped your business? What are your thoughts about the networking myths presented?

Email me at DamitaShanklin @aol.com or post a comment on our wall at facebook.com/ujimamagazine.

Damita Miller-Shanklin is the Founder/Owner of Ujima Magazine and the co-host of Ujima TV with Damita and Evelina.

 

Are You Dressing For Success?

If you’ve been reading Ujima Magazine you are familiar with my personal makeover, a journey I started for several reasons.  I left a job where I dressed casually for the most part because I visited a lot of homes and my clothes could be ruined easily.  From the time I left my job to starting my own business, I gained weight. This is not my first experience gaining weight, but it is the first time I have not pushed to change it. Call it age or just plain lazy, but it is what it is.

Despite the fact that I changed careers and gained weight, I know deep down I need to still look my best, which for me is easier said than done because my self-esteem is not all that great right now. Coming from a place where I could wear Ann Taylor to now looking for places that carry plus size makes me crazy.  After attending networking events and being around other businesswomen, I realize my business attire has to improve because I represent my company. However, finding trendy, cute and fashionable clothing in a plus size can be like finding a needle in a haystack. I bet you are thinking that it should motivate me to change things and lose the weight, right? Well it doesn’t.  As I build my company I need to look the part and feel comfortable in the way I present myself. My image will speak to potential customers before I say anything.

I came across this great article by Forbes writer Scott Reeves; Dress For Success One thing he stated, “presentation is everything,” really made me think. In my office, I do not have a dress code, but one problem I suffer from is under dressing. I sometimes feel I can just put on some jeans or Capri’s with a t-shirt but again presentation is everything.

I am working to ensure I dress appropriately each day, whether I have appointments or not.  I need to dress for success everyday and it is something we, as women who work from home or an office, has to remember.

Do you dress according to your appointments and contacts or do you dress to impress everyday? Email at DamitaShanklin@aol.com to let me know your thoughts.

Damita Miller-Shanklin is the founder and publisher of Ujima Magazine and the co-host of Ujima TV with Damita and Evelina a public access show.

Behind The Scenes with...

I hope you enjoyed reading about Kelley Glover, the cover of the March/April Issue of Ujima Magazine. People have asked me how do you find people for your magazine? Well, this is a great example of how I meet people.

I attended a  BigAustin class and we were asked to go around the room and introduce ourselves. As we went around, Kelley introduced herself and spoke about her project U Better Sing!  We immediately made eye contact and smiled. I knew I wanted to learn more about her project.  After the training we approached each other and started talking and I found her project very interesting and I felt it was something the community needed to be aware of. We also realized we knew some of the same people, which is always nice.

Our first meeting, she came by the office to show me the demo of the show. It was interactive with singing, musical lessons and much more. There is also a story being told within the show by cartoon characters. It is fun and you want to sing. "Do, Re, Me Fa So, La, Ti, Doe" I immediately thought of The Sound of Music. I asked her to be a guest on the Ujima TV show. She accepted and I was able to introduce her project to our viewers. We had such a good time, learning about her musical career and listening to her talk about how her show. We even talked about her performing with Denzel Washington and Ruthie Foster. 

Denzel Washington

I still wanted to share her story and her journey of bringing her dream project to television. That is how she became the cover story for the magazine.

Kelley Glover was a fun interview and a friendship was developed. Please look for her show on KLRU and for information about at U Better Sing!

Thanks Kelley!

Behind The Scenes with the Makeover

As a reader of Ujima Magazine, you know the final story but I want to share what happened behind the scenes. Here we go. So what happened when Julie and I met for my color analysis appointment?

We met at my office and she brought in several boxes of swatches with different colors. But I could not start without finding out what she thought about my shirt. It had a pattern with a loud pink trim. I bought the shirt to hide my stomach area. However, Julie pointed out (in a nice way) it was too long and it made me look shorter and dumpy. The pattern was too busy as well. Julie explained it was not right for me, but the one good thing was the trim took some of the busy pattern away from my face.

When then started the color analysis. The process was not a fast one. I had never had it done so I didn’t know what to expect. Julie was very thorough. She went through each color swatch that were bundled in colors that went together (like a color wheel) and put it up against my face to judge whether or not it worked for me. So I sat and looked in the mirror and she would say “this one” or “this one.” It was hard to determine some of them because the colors look similar to me. But Julie had a keen eye and could determine what worked. She then placed the colors we would use together and the other ones back in her box.

By the end of the day, we had color swatches that worked for my skin color. Whew, it was a lot. But we got through it and I now know what colors to wear. We did have to take pictures so everyone could see my color swatches. Trying to find the correct pose so the swatches could be seen was tricky. We worked on this process for at least three hours.

I enjoyed it and it was interesting to look at colors and learn how they reflect on your skin color, hair and eyes. I admire people who can do this because one bad color can make you look washed out.

I recommend anyone who is updating their look and wardrobe, to think about getting a color analysis done.

Julie is great with this and I want to thank her for giving me her honest opinion and keeping it real!

You can find more information about Julie Lara at www.julielara.com or Julie@julielara.com.

Any comments? Please email me at damitashanklin@aol.com.

New Issue of Ujima Magazine

August Issue: Dr. Chiquitta Eugene A Woman With A Mission

Hello Ujima Readers- You can now read the digital copy of the August issue at www.ujimamagazine.com. We have some wonderful stories this month. You can read about Dr. Chiquitta Eugene who is the President and CEO of the Capital City African-American Chamber of Commerce. There are articles about two programs that can help our youth reach their goals in the Arts and college. These programs are respectively the LEAP program and College Forward.  Check them out! 

Our Young Minds discuss using Social Media as a way to communicate as well as a new book by Austinite LaShaundra Seale that deals with infertility. So, you can see this issue is packed with good information. Please let your friends know how to access Ujima, the more readers the better. Thanks.

"Embrace Your Community"

Damita Miller-Shanklin

Publisher