It’s February 2012 and we are celebrating a healthy heart month! As an entrepreneur it’s important to be healthy and full of energy. How will you compete and be successful if you are tired, grumpy and not focused.  I seem to have really gained energy and focus lately. Well it could be that I L.O.V.E what I do each day and who I work with. I think you have to take good care of yourself and really focus on your strengths. I recently have listened and read lots of info on how we play into how we can really sabotage ourselves to succeed.  I have become more focused on creating a lifestyle that helps me get to my goals in the next two years.

I have BIG goals and I won’t talk about those but how I will be focusing on my strengths to get to those BIG goals in two years or LESS. Most of us have a hard time focusing on ourselves and what our strengths are.  Here are 10 strengths I came up with and I think this is a good exercise for everyone to do.

1. FAMILY

2. Healthy Lifestyle

3. Living in a great community

4. Love of knowledge of everything business

5. Like a good challenge

6. Consistent with  business practices

7.  Building good customer relationships

8. Being authentic

9. Creative thinking

10. Always thankful for everything

What are your strengths? It’s so important as you grow your business that you use your strengths to succeed.

Kathy K Nelson – Chief Decision Maker at Ovaleye.com

Go Red for Women!

NationalWearRedDay® isFeb.3,2012

Each year, the first Friday in February is designated national Wear red day. It’s a day when individuals, groups and companies show their support in the fight against heart disease, the No. 1 killer of women, by rallying in red.

Ovaleye is proud to partner with @TheHeartTruth on National Wear Red Day on February 3. Wear Red for Woman’s Heart Health!

I have been a Care Giver for many years for my Mother-in-Law we affectionately call “Mimi”.  She has dealt with many heart issues over the years and my husband and I have learned a lot along the way.  We owe many thanks to her fantastic Cardiologist Dr Kim at Evergreen in Kirkland. He watches over my Mother-in-Law and the recipe of medicine he has given her over the years has added years to her life. In fact this week she will visit him again for a check up.

This is the sole reason my husband and I workout at least 5 days a week and try to lead a healthy lifestyle. It’s so important for later in life!

So for the month of February lets all be Advocates for Heart Disease and join me and Ovaleye on Friday Feb. 3rd in Wearing Red!

For more information please visit: http://www.hearttruth.gov/

Kathy K Nelson – Chief Decision Maker at Ovaleye.com

Two years ago I started blogging. Not a big deal for most but for me I am giving myself a pat on the back! I don’t blog daily but I try hard to blog each week. For some reason as I was thinking of my blog for today I thought I would check out the date of my first entry. Funny… it was January 22, 2010.

What I have learned in the many years of owning a business is being consistent. Each year I challenge myself with things that make me very uncomfortable.  I told myself I would not write a blog about New Years resolutions but what if I say out loud here on my blog what MY goals for 2012 will be.  To be successful in life and business you have to challenge yourself!

These three things will keep me busy for a year:

1. Videos will be part of my everyday life – vlogging & new shows on Ovaleye.TV

2. Work on my core inside and out – Gym time strength training & make every day count

3. Think BIG-  it’s easy & safe to think small. Big is better!

These will keep me busy and pushing me outside my comfort zone.  I wake up every day and before my feet hit the floor I tell myself JUST DO IT

Kathy K Nelson – Chief Decision Maker at Ovaleye.com

Ovaleye.tv is a big part of our brand and marketing platform. I have been researching others to see how videos can capture and connect with your target audience. Videos! I recommend all entrepreneurs create a welcome video or a vlog to see how you do and then watch it. I had so much fun watching and learning while sipping tea on a snowy winter day.

Here are my favorites! I love it when people can truly connect with their audience and community. So my top picks for fun and inspiration are:

Marie Forleo:

Tony Robbins Interviews Marie Forleo

How to Deal with Competition in Your Industry

Savor the Success:

Do you have the IT factor?

Angela Jia Kim’s Vlogs

I sat for a few hours watching these women talk about what they love and inspiring others. So much better than cable!

Here is to women that take a chance and have fun!

Kathy K Nelson – Chief Decision Maker at Ovaleye.com

It’s 2012 and as we move forward with new and exciting plans for Ovaleye this year, I have to think what the heck happened to 2011? The year flew by too fast for a growing business to handle. Here is what I found as I go through my notes for the past year.

Our company picked up momentum beginning in 2010 as we doubled in size, in the summer we took on partners, added new services and a new way to market ourselves with video towards the end of the year.  Then, beginning in 2011 we added a new Affiliate program, began marketing our VoIP and Business Class email services, ended the partnership formed in 2010 all while learning how to grow our business with my grandson in tow.

Looking back at 2011 I am left thinking where did the year go? I was so consumed in trying to keep up that I never felt like I caught up until the last month of the year. I caught my breath and could plan for 2012. When you are in the thick of things you do not realize what happened until you can basically relax and take a serious look at your progress. I encourage all small businesses to take time to go over the good, the bad and the ugly. It’s the only way to move forward.

Lessons I have learned:

• Partner with businesses that will help your business grow and that have the same values as you
• Listen to your gut when making a big decision
• Organization is everything
• Cash flow is a big part of your business. You have to have this to survive!
• Don’t be afraid to fail
• Be present!
• Don’t be afraid to think outside the box and have fun when marketing your business
• Don’t be afraid to ask for help

I received great advice from my personal trainer the other day. I have seen him for about 8 months now. He has the best routine for me, but I wasn’t seeing the results I wanted. I asked him why this was the case; why I wasn’t seeing BIG results after doing everything he said to do. He said to me “well, Kathy do you sweat every single time you do this work out? Do you push yourself?” I said well I don’t sweat as much as I should and I am careful. He said that is your problem. Push yourself to get the results you want. No one else can do that for you.

Your business is part of your life, family and everything you do. Ovaleye is my third child and needs me and my team every day. So you better LOVE what you do.  The process of building a scalable business takes time, love and lots of sweat.  It will drive you insane days and there will be days you dance and sing around in joy.

2012 is all about spreading our wings to see how far we can go.

Here is to another great year! 2011 was a year to remember for me personally. It was also a big year for our family too. Each year in business makes me stronger and ready for the next. Here are a few highlights that I wanted to share about my family, business and fun. Wishing everyone a happy, healthy and successful 2012! ~ Kathy

Boating with Grandson

Mimi the Great & Grandson

Seattle Women Magazine

Ovaleye in the WHIR Magazine

SOHO Insights

Back to Business Summit

Ovaleye has a great team! Small businesses do not have all the resources and time to do it all. So we look at others to help us. How you hire or partner with others is something that you grow into and learn from. Small businesses usually have small budgets so partnering is the way to start. Ovaleye has seen our fair share of partners over the years. I couldn’t have built websites in the beginning without help from my partners. Ovaleye has a team of experts and partners that help us create our vision and help us achieve our goals.

Ovaleye has chosen many partners and a few team members over the past 5 years that have been amazing to work with. But this past year I had to really think about who actually fits well with our team and company culture. Here is what we look for and how we found our team.

Our company manifesto has set the tone for our business. So we use this for guidelines.

FAMILY  – Work from home – Community Oriented – Family lifestyle

HEALTH -Good attitude – healthy minds = high productivity & confidence

KNOWLEDGE -Share what we learn with others -  take advantage of learning opportunities

FUN – Celebrate whenever possible – reward and value your partners and team

My team is the best fit for me and the partners we have here at Ovaleye are hand picked and sought after. I have been wrong on occasion and I have learned from my mistakes. Trust your gut first. I didn’t and it lead me to a few wrong ones.

Jenn and I met Carissa (our team member) at a Twitter Class Ovaleye put on for our local Chamber of Commerce. She loves (nerd alert) technology, owns a business with her husband, loves working with others and is a mom. Jenn and I made sure she was our first team member outside our family. She can work with all of us at any hour of the night and weekends. Her family is supportive and we couldn’t ask for a better person to help our clients too.

Connie just joined our team in November.  I have known Connie for years. She is our small town’s cheerleader. She has a big heart, a mom, passionate about small businesses and I just recently found out that she was a bookkeeper  and a HR and buyer for a few big corporations before she had kids. A perfect fit in our Ovaleye family. I waited until her kids were full time in school before I asked her to join Ovaleye.

When Tracy and I first started Ovaleye we needed software for our servers. We had worked with Parallels many years ago with our first business.  Parallels offers everything we needed and more to help our business grow and to give our clients the best products that our industry offers. It’s important to find one that is budget friendly for your small business so that you can offer your clients a good rate and keep competitive with the bigger businesses. The minute they announced they were moving to our area we were knocking at their doors! They care about small businesses and the Partners like Ovaleye that help grow their business.

We all care about our businesses and our customers. So make sure you also care about who you hire and partner with!

Thank you team Ovaleye!

Kathy K Nelson – Chief Decision Maker at Ovaleye.com

One of my favorite days of the week is Monday. It’s the start of the week and usually one of our busiest days. I love to be busy and enjoy talking with as many web hosting clients as we can.

My day usually starts at 5:15am and by 8am I am in the office after the gym and checking my emails. I will usually get support calls before 8am while at the gym. No problem, I can jump off the treadmill and take the call using Ovaleye VoIP and my Bria soft phone!

The office is usually  jumping hearing from clients, clearing emails out of my inbox and hopefully tweeting. I always check out who has looked at our website and who follows us on Twitter Facebook. I jump on Facetime with Jenn, who is my partner (and daughter), and my grandson to plan when we all meet.

My grandson time on Monday makes the first day of the week the best day! I love this time with him. I get him all to myself! We play games, run, and he wears me out! Jenn, his mom, works in the office while I play.

After dinner with Grammy & Grampy my grandson goes home with his daddy and my daughter and I with my husband (partner and producer) record SOHO Insights for Ovaleye.tv and have a blast talking about the trends, services, and products for the small office, home office lifestyle.

To top the day off Jenn and I visit my mother-in-law (her Grandma) and we watch Dancing with the Stars or a fun movie and drink wine!

Monday is a good day!

Kathy K Nelson – Chief Decision Maker at Ovaleye.com

My husband and I will celebrate our 30th Anniversary November 21st.  Time has flown by too fast! We met when I was 15 so I have known him more than 30 years. We were both attending summer camp in Santa Barbara. He was our high school band Drum Major and I was a tall flag girl.  We were married Nov 21st, 1981.  We have two great kids, a perfect son-in-law and the cutest grandson. My mother-in-law has lived with us in an apartment above our garage for 11 years now.  Our son just moved out and we are now empty nesters

Our theme throughout our marriage I would say is we haven’t been afraid to take chances.  Our 30th year will probably be one of our most memorable years.  We have really focused on what we love to do and what means the most to us. Here is to many more great years with Tracy Nelson!

Our Family

Our favorite past time- boating!

Motorcycle riding on Orcas Island.

Our favorite place to relax

Jenn and I started SOHO Insights at Ovaleye.tv 1 year ago. This has been a work in progress for me. A year ago I would have told you I do not like to be in videos but it’s something I need to do. Now a year later I LOVE our little videos we do each week. Here is our very first SOHO Insight from November 1st, 2010.

SOHO Insights Episode 1

Since November 1st, 2010 I have stepped out of my comfort zone so far it was painful to sit in front of a camera the first couple months. I have always been afraid to speak in front of many people. Being in front of a video camera and sitting next to my daughter should NOT be a stressful thing. But it was for a short time because she is a fast talker and quick to respond where if you check out this video I talk like I am in slow motion.  If you will also notice we sip wine in our videos.  We started that to help with our nerves and we like wine in the evenings to celebrate our day at Ovaleye. We have had more comments on the wine than on our subjects

Here are a few things I have learned since we started SOHO Insights:

• What not to wear on video – White
• Have fun and look into the camera
• Be yourself don’t fake it
• Lighting and camera angles are everything! Those side angles can be brutal!
• Outline, practice & be prepared
• Feedback is good!
• There are so many outlets to watch your video, such as itunes, live and others.
• Be consistent
• Stepping out of your comfort zone will bring you more results and you will move faster to your goal.

Somewhere along the way I got comfortable and really look forward to our shows. I love hearing that people actually watch it and love their feedback.  Jenn and I started thinking outside the box again for new ways to reach more people. So in the next month or so we will have more to share with everyone on some great happenings here at Ovaleye.

I urge all entrepreneurs that have small office home office lifestyles to step out of their comfort zones as often as they can. You never know what will happen next. Your dreams may come true! What do you have to lose?

Kathy K Nelson – Chief Decision Maker at Ovaleye.com