Do Better With Money

Skinny Pop’s Success: Lessons I Learned

May 21, 2012 by Ellen Rogin, CPA, CFP®

I had the wonderful opportunity to interview Skinny Pop co-founder Pam Netzky at a program at Metropolitan Capital Bank. She has an amazing entrepreneurial spirit and left the audience members inspired to grow their businesses.

When I introduced Pam I said “She is a snack food rock star in my house!” She and her partners have created incredibly delicious popcorn that doesn’t have any artificial anything in it. (Although I am fairly certain there is some unlisted drug that causes me to want to eat an entire bag in one sitting.) If you are not familiar with Skinny Pop you’re missing out. If it is not being sold in your area yet – just wait – the company is growing by leaps and bounds. (2019 UPDATE: it is everywhere now!!)

Here’s what I learned from Pam:

Don’t let what you don’t know stop you. Pam had no background in food, cooking, packaging, distribution etc. before they started the company. She knew she had a great product and just needed to learn how to get it out to the stores.
Don’t get married to your business plan. Before Skinny Pop, Pam’s plan was to open gourmet popcorn shops in Chicagoand then expand to different cities. A competitor (with a much larger budget) beat them to New York and failed. She was grateful they failed and not her company – but realized that their own business plan no longer made sense. Her ability to change course lead them to create the recipe for healthier popcorn with a totally different distribution model.
Don’t whine about the economy. She started Skinny pop during the recession (and had sarted another business on Sept. 1, 2001). Certainly not ideal timing.
Be willing to take a risk!

Here’s a bonus lesson: Click to find out why Arianna Huffington says women should “sleep their way to the top!”

0 Shares

3 Lessons I Learned from 1000 Ghanaian High School Kids

March 18, 2012 by Ellen Rogin, CPA, CFP® 1 Comment

I recently returned from a two week volunteer trip with our 13 year-old daughter and 16 year-old son, to Ghana. We had been there 18 months earlier and were looking forward to being back in the community with the incredibly friendly adults and beautiful children. Three days into the trip, while visiting the senior high school, I was invited by the Assistant Head Master, Samson (not his real name but he told me to call him that as even Ghanaians have trouble with his name), to speak to the students about investing in their future. I explained that I typically speak to adults, but if he thought it would be helpful I would be happy to talk to the kids. I assumed it was for a class of thirty -I later learned it would be for 1000 students and their teachers!

A Packed Room

A few days later I arrived at the Akwamuman senior high school to a packed room of students, teachers and administrators sitting on benches waiting for me to begin my presentation on success. As I took the microphone from the assistant headmaster and said my first words, I realized only one syllable from each word was actually coming through the speakers. The high school AV team quickly took the microphone to try to get it to work. After about 10 minutes it was suggested that I stand on the floor behind the 5’ tall speaker equipment to get the best sound. That didn’t seem like a very good plan so I went back on the riser and proceeded to speak very loudly (yelling at times over the sounds coming from outside the open-air dining hall that also serves as the school auditorium).

Success Formula

For the next 45 minutes I shared strategies for success and prosperity with these young future leaders. We talked about the Success Formula: What you think + What you say + What you do = Your results. I explained that most people focus solely on the “doing” part and miss the other two crucial components of this formula. These kids are often told “study hard, do your assignments, come to class”. Yes, and… it’s also important for them to remember to think positively about their abilities and to say good things to themselves and others. If they only study hard, but doubt their abilities or say that the work is too difficult or that they aren’t very bright it won’t matter how much time they put into their school work – their results won’t be as strong as they could be.

I told them “You are GREAT!” They told each other “You are GREAT!” and celebrated with high-fives. They listened attentively (for the most part – they are teenagers after all) and many took notes.

I hope that I shared information that was valuable for them.

I know that I learned 3 major lessons from this experience:

1) The importance of being creative and flexible. I was initially very intimidated at the prospect of speaking to high school kids – I typically speak to adults. As I was preparing I knew that the presentation I use in the US would not work in Ghana– my stories and jokes would not play with this audience! This inspired me to create new material and ideas for this group (all of which I will continue to use).

2) The importance of ingenuity and support. With the help of other volunteers we were able to get a lap top and projector working to show a video that I knew the kids would love. And, even though the microphone didn’t work I was able to get my ideas across to this large group.

3) The importance of clarity of vision. The week before I left for our volunteer trip to GhanaI shared with a friend that I wanted to expand my speaking reach globally. I assumed this would happen with a new business venture that I have started. Already, my goal to speak internationally has manifested in a big way!

As I was leaving the high school that morning I met a boy named Confidence. What a wonderful name! It reminded me that when we have “confidence” in our dreams and passion and purpose, we can easily create what we desire in our lives – it just may show up differently than we expect.

Share5

5 Shares

Doing Everything Right and Still Not Reaching Your Goals?

March 12, 2012 by Ellen Rogin, CPA, CFP® Leave a Comment

We have an air mattress that’s used for house guests when there isn’t an extra bed available. It blows up easily with the push of a button to a full-size thick mattress. Our guests feel comfy as they fall asleep on this firm bed, only to wake in the morning (if they make it that long) to feel their bottoms almost reaching the ground. I call this our “de-flatable” mattress. It has an almost undetectable leak. Little by little air flows out of the bed leaving the inhabitants achy and sleep deprived. (We only use this for people under the age of 16 or guest we don’t want to stay very long.)

Often people think they are taking all the right steps toward reaching their goals; things may look good at the start – and just like the air mattress – there is a leak and they can’t figure out where. So what do you do, when you think you’re doing every thing right? Start looking for places to fix the leaks:

1. Crystal Clarity in Your Vision Are you really clear on where you want to go? Do you know what you really want to achieve?

2. Are you “wanting” what you want, too much? This sounds counter-intuitive – but when you focus on “wanting,” that’s what you get…more wanting of your goal (as opposed to achieving your goal). One of the definitions of “want” is: lacking or deficient in. So, by your laser-focus on wanting something, you are actually creating that feeling of wanting over and over. Instead, focus on the feelings you will feel when your goal is accomplished (as if it is happening right now). Now you are setting the stage for achievement.

3. Make sure your goals don’t conflict. For many years I desired to be hired for more paid speaking engagements. I always built this goal into my business plan and never hit my target. I realized when I look back upon this time that I had a conflicting goal to not travel too much, to be available for my family when our kids were young. My family goal had more energy behind it than my speaking goal. What do you desire that may conflict with a goal you are shooting for and missing?

Ready for the biggest leak in people’s plans? Drum roll please…

4. Limiting beliefs may be keeping you from your dream. According to Dr. Bruce Lipton, author of The Biology of Belief, we operate 95% of the time from our subconscious. That means that if you are walking around with a belief like “I’ll never reach this goal,” guess what? You won’t! Negative beliefs are the most insidious culprits to our success. Tools such as meditation, affirmations, hypnotherapy as well as personal development courses such as The Avatar Course and Psych-K can all help to identify and clear limiting beliefs.

Where are your leaks coming from?

0 Shares

Do You Have an Evil Twin?

February 9, 2012 by Ellen Rogin, CPA, CFP® Leave a Comment

Each of us has areas where we excel when it comes to dealing with money. Maybe you are great at spending below your means. Or, you are super charitable and use your money to make a difference for others. Or, perhaps savvy investing in your gift.

No matter how successful and on-track to hit our goals we are, each of us has an “evil twin” that sometimes shows up to challenge things.

Remember Jeannie’s evil twin sister (from I Dream of Jeannie) or Samantha’s evil twin Sabrina from Bewitched? Or maybe Phoebe’s (from Friends) twin Ursula is the one you know best. These nasty twins would often show up to bring havoc in the good twin’s life. In our financial lives, our money evil twin can be just as zany.

The evil twin shows up as limiting financial beliefs. Do any of these sound familiar?

Things are going really well, but I know something always happens that bring this good luck to an end.

The economy is so crazy; I know I’ll end up loosing everything.

I am so afraid of ending up a bag-lady

I’m just too old to get a good job.

It’s so hard out there now – no one is hiring.

I just don’t have a head for numbers.

Dealing with my money is boring.

I’m afraid to see what’s really happening so I won’t open my statements.

I always buy and sell at the wrong time.

I’ll never be really rich.

People with a lot of money are dishonest (or selfish or bad people…)

Our beliefs (thoughts that we keep thinking over and over, consciously or unconsciously) create the reality that shows up in our lives. For the better or worse, they affect our actions, decisions and results. So when your evil twin shows up make sure you are like Jeannie and lock them back up in their bottle.

0 Shares

How Gratitude Got Me in Hot Water

January 5, 2012 by Ellen Rogin, CPA, CFP® Leave a Comment

Gratitude is an amazing stress reducer. Feeling out of control and freaked out? Stop and notice what you are thankful for. When you focus on what’s working great in your life it keeps your attention on what you want as opposed to what you don’t want. There is an amazing power in this.

Often we don’t realize what we are grateful for until it’s gone. Daily I am thankful for my family, my health and my business. I will work in the coming year on focusing on the things in my life that I enjoy but often fail to notice. Here’s what happened:

On New Year’s Eve our son noticed water leaking in the basement. My husband and our friend soon discovered a leak in the hot water heater. Off it went – no more hot water for the long weekend. Okay, I was immediately grateful that we caught the leak before there was any real damage. But soon I became very grateful for hot water (which I had previously enjoyed and not really noticed). I soon realized this is a “first world problem”… I really had little to complain about – much of the world lives without hot water (or more importantly clean water).

The comforts that I take for granted, such as our dishwasher (I thought it just heated the cold water – I was wrong) and our washing machine (even on the cold setting somehow it didn’t want to work without the hot water) are now on my grateful list.

There were certainly some benefits in going without a hot water heater. I saved water during my speed showers. Our daughter got to spend more time with her grandmother while she went in search of a hot shower. Most importantly, I will look for something new each day (previously ignored) that I am grateful for.

My attention on gratitude during our hot water outage (and not on how long it takes to get hypothermia in a frrreezing cold shower) may have contributed to the water heater getting fixed in record time. What’s on your grateful list?

0 Shares

What Your Generosity Style Says About You