Today has been a busy day… balancing business and being a mom – and it has been a great reminder how important it is to be present and focused on what’s going on in the moment, rather than being distracted by what’s next on the agenda.

For those of you who know me, you are aware that I take my daughter to my office with me and that my transition from mom to entrepreneur doesn’t happen much on a schedule, but rather that my day is a constant flow from one role to the other.

At one point today I made it back to the office with about 4 minutes to spare before an important meeting with a client. My daughter needed to be changed (I’ll spare you the details; let’s just say I’m glad to be carrying an extra outfit for her) – as funny as this may sound, these times of the day are a great time for her and I to connect for a couple of moments; I am fully focused on her and present in the moment.

In a perfect sync of timing, my client ran a couple of minutes late and came in just in time for me to give my daughter a hug and hand her over into my husbands arms where she would be looked after during our meeting. Shifting my focus to business, listening to my client, making creative suggestions is what my clients deserve when we choose to work together. Being present, not concerning myself with what’s going on outside my office doors while I am in those meetings allows me to do just that.

My time is my most valuable resource I can share – with my clients, with my friends, with my family. With many distractions in our lives it’s easy for minutes, hours and days to just get away from all of us, but I am becoming more and more conscious that life is too short to not make all moments count.

As I am reading children’s stories to my little baby girl, I can’t help but think to myself that these books would be perfect for many adults to read. The stories we read are encouraging, uplifting tales of a life where anything is possible. Sure, in every story there are obstacles to overcome, but through perseverance and a “can-do” attitude, the ultimate outcome is a positive one.

Is anything possible? Truly? Absolutely – and I really believe this from the bottom of my heart. In business and in every aspect of life. But, I also believe that I am the one responsible for creating it.

For example, I cannot just sit back behind my desk in my office, expecting my business to be successful. I must take appropriate action to make it so – sales, marketing, networking, operations, human resources, just to mention a few areas which I have to give attention to in order to create a successful business. Will there be obstacles on the way? Absolutely and every day. But in the end, anything is possible. And that’s what I want my little baby girl to know as she grows up – that the words in those books are not just stories, but the true life journey.

What are the outcomes you want to create for your business, for your life? And remember, anything is possible!

In business (and in life) you need to be ready for anything. How you deal with the curveballs (business) life throws you determines your success. You can have the greatest plan, but unless you are ready to adjust what you are doing as circumstances change, you will be on a path that was right at one point, but is not anymore.

Staff changes are a prime example of this. When you are involved in a small business, each staff member is a critical part of the operation and when a staff member chooses to leave (or is asked to leave), things will change. When you hire a replacement, this person will be in need of training, and may have different strengths than their predecessor; they may have different ideas and most likely will have a different personality and therefore interact with the rest of the team in a different way.

For the most part, we don’t have a choice if those unexpected curveballs are thrown at us. But we do have a choice how we react – we can either choose to get overwhelmed and be resentful of the responsiblity we have of constantly having to re-adjust what we are doing, or we can embrace the change and the new opportunities that come with it.

Welcome to my new blog! I am looking forward to sharing my insights, thoughts and experiences on business and leadership topics with you here.

In my workshops I often ask “are you a leader or a follower” and almost always, the answer is “both”. And while this may hold true on a situational basis, I ask the question again, when it comes to your core character, are you a leader or a follower? Are you an individual who prefers to not have to take on the responsiblity of leadership or are you a leader who is willing to step aside to let others lead and follow by choice, well informed and doing so while looking at the big picture.

As a leader, when we follow, it should be by choice, not because somebody else tells us it’s the only way, everybody else is doing it, or because it’s more convenient. Being from Germany it’s engrained in me to never blindly follow a leader, as our history sadly shows what can happen when many, many people choose to follow without asking the right questions. Staying with this same example, it’s equally important to me that those whom I lead are individuals who are capable of speaking up when the direction I lead them is not right.

I want to encourage you to check in with yourself… and leave me a note - how do you lead, how do you follow?