Many of these mistakes, missteps and muck-ups cost me money, so I share them with you so you can avoid these in 2006 (thanks to Michael Rasmussen of FreeAdvertisingForum.com for giving me the idea for this list).

• Mistake, Misstep and Muck-up #1 - Spending way too much time on my computer, instead of meeting people face to face. Networking online is great, however, it can never take the place of meeting face-to-face or having a conversation over the phone. Sending emails are so darn easy, but I found that I got too wrapped up with the ease of this technology. I even had a huge argument with one of my vendors because I tried to "break things off" with him over email. I should know better.

  LESSON LEARNED - Compliment online networking activities with face-to-face and phone meetings.

• Mistake, Misstep and Muck-up #2 - Spending way too much time on the technical side of my business. I worked in the technology sector for close to 10-years and I pride myself in being a chick that knows her techie stuff. However, my digital knowledge kept me up late at night as I took responsibility for updating the content on my webpages, creating new autoresponders and creating new HTML pages for new products, instead of farming things out to others. For every new product or teleclass I would launch, it would take me 8-hours to get all the technical pieces ready.

  LESSON LEARNED - Hire a techie expert to maintain my website. Let it go.

• Mistake, Misstep and Muck-up #3 - Not delegating my administrative tasks. There are certain things I hate doing in my business - updating documents, making them look pretty, writing content and writing sales copy for new information products. I just can't stand doing these things and it would take me eons just to write one sentence. Then, that meant I would have to rush and write something quickly because I sat on it for too long and the deadline was an hour away.

  LESSON LEARNED - Hire a virtual assistant or copywriter to do all this stuff for me.

• Mistake, Misstep and Muck-up #4 - Spinning my wheels targeting the wrong market. When I first started coaching, I was on a mission to inspire women to create the career they deserve. Although I was making money, I didn't feel passionate about helping women climb the corporate ladder. It wasn't until my
  Put That Email Aside Until You Calm Down!
  If we lived in a perfect world, business would be business.It wouldn’t be tainted with destructive competition and the petty conflicts that are so prevalent in everyday transactions. But, as you know, we’re far from that ideal.We have to handle defensive people, who make us defensive, and then who call us, defensive! When we feel burdened by someone’s ego, we should to try to ignore the weight of it.There is one, simple technique that has been working for me: waiting for a short period to respond to the communications of difficult or uninformed people.Let me give you an example.I was approached to deliver a speech by a rep
  eeting people face to face. Networking online is great, however, it can never take the place of meeting face-to-face or having a conversation over the phone. Sending emails are so darn easy, but I found that I got too wrapped up with the ease of this technology. I even had a huge argument with one of my vendors because I tried to "break things off" with him over email. I should know better.

  LESSON LEARNED - Compliment online networking activities with face-to-face and phone meetings.

• Mistake, Misstep and Muck-up #2 - Spending way too much time on the technical side of my business. I worked in the technology sector for close to 10-years and I pride myself in being a chick that knows her techie stuff. However, my digital knowledge kept me up late at night as I took responsibility for updating the content on my webpages, creating new autoresponders and creating new HTML pages for new products, instead of farming things out to others. For every new product or teleclass I would launch, it would take me 8-hours to get all the technical pieces ready.

  LESSON LEARNED - Hire a techie expert to maintain my website. Let it go.

• Mistake, Misstep and Muck-up #3 - Not delegating my administrative tasks. There are certain things I hate doing in my business - updating documents, making them look pretty, writing content and writing sales copy for new information products. I just can't stand doing these things and it would take me eons just to write one sentence. Then, that meant I would have to rush and write something quickly because I sat on it for too long and the deadline was an hour away.

  LESSON LEARNED - Hire a virtual assistant or copywriter to do all this stuff for me.

• Mistake, Misstep and Muck-up #4 - Spinning my wheels targeting the wrong market. When I first started coaching, I was on a mission to inspire women to create the career they deserve. Although I was making money, I didn't feel passionate about helping women climb the corporate ladder. It wasn't until my
  Conviction... What Does It Mean?
  Beyond a doubt, a person has to believe in what they're doing in order to succeed. It starts out in all of us, as little children. We want certain things and in order to get them without the ability to communicate, we either have to point at it or cry, until our parents figure it out.As we grow older, we improve our tactics and learn what makes people respond to our desires. Eventually, we start to think through the process, to avoid rejection, and convince ourselves that our needs or ideas are worth the effort. When we come to the point of 'being convinced' that what we have is so compelling, we take it to the marketplace. There, is where the true
  stake, Misstep and Muck-up #2 - Spending way too much time on the technical side of my business. I worked in the technology sector for close to 10-years and I pride myself in being a chick that knows her techie stuff. However, my digital knowledge kept me up late at night as I took responsibility for updating the content on my webpages, creating new autoresponders and creating new HTML pages for new products, instead of farming things out to others. For every new product or teleclass I would launch, it would take me 8-hours to get all the technical pieces ready.

  LESSON LEARNED - Hire a techie expert to maintain my website. Let it go.

• Mistake, Misstep and Muck-up #3 - Not delegating my administrative tasks. There are certain things I hate doing in my business - updating documents, making them look pretty, writing content and writing sales copy for new information products. I just can't stand doing these things and it would take me eons just to write one sentence. Then, that meant I would have to rush and write something quickly because I sat on it for too long and the deadline was an hour away.

  LESSON LEARNED - Hire a virtual assistant or copywriter to do all this stuff for me.

• Mistake, Misstep and Muck-up #4 - Spinning my wheels targeting the wrong market. When I first started coaching, I was on a mission to inspire women to create the career they deserve. Although I was making money, I didn't feel passionate about helping women climb the corporate ladder. It wasn't until my
  What Would You Do If You Didn't Have To Work?
  The answer to that is simply what ever you want! Yesterday, Monday, I took my family out to watch Shrek 3. I took them to the 2pm showing. Now that may seem like something little, but for me, it is huge. How many Dad’s were at work away from their families? I know where I would have been. I would have been out making someone else money while being paid peanuts worrying about whether or not I would be able to have the money I needed to make the bills, especially if my family went to the movies. I’m not joking. That is how bad it was.But that’s not how it is now. I choose when I work and when I play. Well, I mostly play because I only work about 3 or 4
  e me 8-hours to get all the technical pieces ready.

  LESSON LEARNED - Hire a techie expert to maintain my website. Let it go.

• Mistake, Misstep and Muck-up #3 - Not delegating my administrative tasks. There are certain things I hate doing in my business - updating documents, making them look pretty, writing content and writing sales copy for new information products. I just can't stand doing these things and it would take me eons just to write one sentence. Then, that meant I would have to rush and write something quickly because I sat on it for too long and the deadline was an hour away.

  LESSON LEARNED - Hire a virtual assistant or copywriter to do all this stuff for me.

• Mistake, Misstep and Muck-up #4 - Spinning my wheels targeting the wrong market. When I first started coaching, I was on a mission to inspire women to create the career they deserve. Although I was making money, I didn't feel passionate about helping women climb the corporate ladder. It wasn't until my
  Career as a Big Franchise Attorney
  Many folks know that our nation and business community is being turned over to the lawyers and therefore many parents want their kids to become a lawyer. But which kind of law should they practice?Should they become a class-action lawyer, which often destroy jobs in America and rape Corporations like John Edwards? Should they become a lawyer and then become a district attorney and parlay that into becoming a politician? One would suppose if misrepresentation runs in your family genes then that would make sense. Two-thirds of our politicians are lawyers and all the Judicial Branch.Franchise Law is a good place to work because you are dealing wi
  o rush and write something quickly because I sat on it for too long and the deadline was an hour away.

  LESSON LEARNED - Hire a virtual assistant or copywriter to do all this stuff for me.

• Mistake, Misstep and Muck-up #4 - Spinning my wheels targeting the wrong market. When I first started coaching, I was on a mission to inspire women to create the career they deserve. Although I was making money, I didn't feel passionate about helping women climb the corporate ladder. It wasn't until my mother came to one of my speaking engagements in September 2005 that she gave me the clarity I needed. With her wisdom and her keen eye, she helped me craft my current mission - to help women start a business on a shoestring budget.

  LESSON LEARNED - Really listen to what my clients (and mom) are telling me about the problem they're experiencing.

• Mistake, Misstep and Muck-up #5 - Creating a bunch of cool information products all at once. Just because I can bang out 5 special reports in a weekend, doesn't mean I have the manpower or energy to promote them all at the same time. I realized that in order to make sales on an information product, I really need to market them. Until I do that, they're going to sit on my website, look pretty and go stale.

  LESSON LEARNED - Focus on one product for at least 3-months and use my affiliates to help promote the new product.

• Mistake, Misstep and Muck-up #6 - Attending networking events that weren't producing results. While networking is about building relationships, it should also lead to some quality contacts. Unfortunately, I attended too many networking events where everyone was like me - an entrepreneur looking for business. Although I made some great contacts, after attending the same networking events for 12-months straight, I noticed that my networking circle was stale and lacked any power.

  LESSON LEARNED - Stick with a networking event for no more than 4 consecutive events, analyze the results, then move on. Also, attend more networking events that puts me in touch with my target audience.

• Mistake, Misstep and Muck-up #7 - Not spending enough on educating myself. As a solopreneur, it's so easy to forget that I have to invest in myself by taking courses that can help me learn how to do things better. In the first half of 2005, I didn't spend a dime and my progress showed for it. However, in the latter part of 2005, I started to spend a bit on educating myself on new techniques and processes. Doing this put me in touch