Three years ago today, I had the opportunity to be interviewed by AnYes van Rhijn on her Blog Talk Radio show, all the way to France.
She is a business coach for mindset, self-confidence, self-care, personal branding and personal effectiveness for professional women.
Here is the link to the interview.
At the time of my interview she was starting her series of radio shows and I was happy to have been chosen as a guest. She was a good host and directed the show to meet the needs of her audience. The core of the conversation was to help her followers understanding basic business principles and issues entrepreneurs usually struggle with, such as how to be productive in business, how to overcome self-doubts, how to be disciplined, even when, at times, there is little desire to work, how to set goals and achieve them.
It takes courage to become an entrepreneur, accepting to earn money inconsistently at the beginning and to work lonely long hours. It also takes courage to accept changes. An entrepreneur must be ready for the transformation, which naturally happens with unfolding events of a new business. Fear is normal, but it does not have to blur the targets, never lose the vision of the goals one wants to reach.
(Photo Microphone: Free image https://www.iconfinder.com/icons/37056/microphone_record_icon)
My secret to endure hard times in a new business in a foreign country was not to put myself in the box, even if it meant to be a fashion designer one day and an interior designer the next day. I put all my qualifications to work with diligence, making sure they were all related. One of my business coaches once said:
“money is money, doesn’t matter where they come from. Honor it” therefore I had skills, I put them to work for me.
(Photo AnYes van Rhijn – Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/anyesvanrhijn/?ppe=1)
The conversation with AnYes then evolved on the difficulties a foreigner meets when doing business in the adopted country. I am sure everyone moving to a foreign country experiences difficulties with the new life, new customs, new way of thinking or even making jokes. Often, what was funny to me, was taken the wrong way by the locals. I had to adjust my thinking and speaking out loud was something I had to forget, otherwise I would have created the desert around me, that was not my goal.
Writing books, in a foreign language was also one of the questions AnYes directed to her followers, many of them are foreigners and want to write a book, but debate if writing it in the native language or English. I chose to write my books in English, only because I want to sell to the world and no only to a small country like Italy. Why put limitations?
Being an entrepreneur doesn’t have to be difficult or painful, as long as one conducts business with humor, caring for clients with love, understanding personal limitations, doing the best one can, resting between tasks or projects and never overwork. Make clients part of the business life, share moments behind the scenes, be open and transparent. Humans run businesses, treat the business as a friend with humanity and people will come.
I hope to have been an inspiration to all the brave and courageous new entrepreneurs out there. Thanks to AnYes van Rhijn I can remember that day, she was so great interviewing me and that’s an art on its own.
The story of my business continues. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com
Copyright © 2017 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved
As a designer in business since 1990, I am interested in helping people designing their interior and exterior spaces with an overall feeling of peace, relaxation and harmony that will draw them home eagerly. I am always looking to add that special touch with original findings to the spaces I design. Color is the focus of my business today, changing people’s energy and life force just by introducing them to colors they would have never imagined. Vogue Italia magazine, Gentry and many prominent magazines in California featured my work, I appeared on RAI, National Italian T.V. and nonetheless my story continues. Find copies of my book on colors ©RED – A Voyage Into Colors and the rest of my books
Amazon: http://goo.gl/qNxXrB
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w
Valentina Expressions 
Jul 12, 2017 @ 20:21:11
terrific you are truly an international woman entrepreneur, there should be a recognition award for that, especially when your office is on the moon!
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Jul 12, 2017 @ 23:13:23
No, Kathy, my office is actually on Mars, as many people think I am a Martian 😀. Love your comments. Thanks for the visit. ❤️
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