Important versus urgent, or how to be a better CEO?

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About 5 weeks ago I wrote about my trip to Asia, and how I loved to travel, and promised you all some of my beauty travel tips. I’m sorry, but these will have to wait another week. The travel theme is still here – I am typing on the plane back to DC from Halifax. But what is top of mind, rather than beauty rituals, is the concept of scaling my business.

I have been thinking about this since the last Network of Entrepreneurial Women Breakfast Brainstorm during which Kathy Korman Frey spoke about women’s responsibilities for not just being business owners, but striving to grow our businesses to be bigger, better, more profitable. 

Continue reading ➞ Important versus urgent, or how to be a better CEO?

Love the world, love to travel

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I spent the last week in Asia. 50 hours of travel roundtrip, six amazing days filled with new experiences and discoveries.

Hong Kong is one of my favorite cities. My godmother splits her time between Hong Kong and Geneva, and most of the time I envy her (although that flight twice a month might get old). Lane Crawford stores. Joyce Beauty boutiques (where I would love to see my products on the shelf). Mandarin Oriental headquarters and hospitality. Mountainous peaks in the middle of water. What is there not to love?

Continue reading ➞ Love the world, love to travel

It's not how you play the game… it's if you win or lose. Or is it the other way around?

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My father taught me to always win. To be the best. To be the first. In school. At piano. In college. At work.My mother, in more typically female style, tells me “It’s not if you win or lose, it’s how you play the game.”Depending on the day, and on the football game, I go back and forth. When my beloved Patriots lose, like two week-ends ago, I tend to relate to my mother’s view. When my second favorite team, the Saints, win, like this past Saturday, all of a sudden winning is all that matters.

As many of you know, this past summer I was nominated as one of the top 5 Emerging Entrepreneurs by Entrepreneur Magazine. For three months, I and four other eager entrepreneurs asked, cajoled, enticed, people to vote for us. A few days before Christmas, I received a press release from Entrepreneur Magazine announcing that the winner on the Emerging Entrepreneur awards was Kelly Girard, founder and CEO of Clean Air Lawn Care.

Continue reading ➞ It's not how you play the game… it's if you win or lose. Or is it the other way around?

Happy New Year!

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I love the 31st of December. It is the promise of a New Year, of endless possibilities, of a clean slate. To me, it is a bit like Friday night – the week-end is ahead but has not yet started. And, of course, December 31st is the day to make New Year’s resolutions. At the end of every year, millions of us (50% of Americans, actually!) resolve to live better, be better, and abandon our vices.

From Entrepreneur Magazine, December 2009, here are a few New Year’s resolution factoids:

– 99% jump in web visits to Weight Watchers in January, more than in any other month
– 1 million boxes of smoking cessation gum, lozenges, and ptaches sold in January 2008
– 42% jump in traffic on career sites in January
– 12% of gym memberships are sold in January, more than in any other month

My list of goals (I like that word better than resolution) for 2010, both personal and professional, is long. You can read about some of them on Inc.com (nice to end the year with a homepage photo!). Others include reading more; taking up running again; and for a third year in a row (is there an expiration date for goals?), learning to play pool!

Whatever your goals for 2010 may be, I wish you a New Year filled with happiness, success, and beauty!

With love,

Ada

Legs, legs, legs

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Last night I had a debate with my dear friend Kelly about tights. Or stockings, however you prefer to call them. I love dresses and skirts year round, but I hate tights. So in the winter, my legs are always cold. She was telling me about fabulous cashmere thigh highs… I might have to try those.

Our conversation made me think about legs, and then of course my mind wandered to products, as it always does. And I realized that I use 4 Alchimie Forever products on my legs and feet! While you might think about taking care of your legs during the summer, if you are like me and don’t like tights then you might want to think about them during the winter also. After all, ’tis the season for holiday parties and short cocktail dresses.

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What I am grateful for this year

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A girlfriend of mine (who shall remain nameless so as not to completely spoil the surprise) is eloping the day after Thanksgiving. She told me she wanted to have something fantastic to remember 2009 by. Indeed, many of us would rather forget about 2009 alltogether. As she was telling me about her plans, I started to think about all the great things that happened this year, positive things that I should be grateful for and that make up for the economy…

It seems particularly appropriate to think about this during this holiday week. So here goes. I encourage you all to make your own list and celebrate 2009.

I am thankful for:

1. The birth of the first Polla grandchild, my niece Sasha. 

2. The new Alchimie Forever showroom located in the heart of Georgetown.

3. My new apartment, also in Georgetown, with its hardwood floors and wood-burning fireplace.

4. The fact that I can walk to work!

5. My first experience with live TV.

6. My first Mardi Gras spent in New Orleans, “the city that care forgot.”

7.  My first trip to the wine country.

8. The launch of our newest product, Superpulse Tightening Eye Contour Gel for Men.

9. The new Alchimie Forever clients who brought our line in to their spas and boutiques despite the current climate.

10. The existing Alchimie Forever clients who still trust and support us and make everything else possible.

Happy Thanksgiving!

With love,
Ada