A few days ago, I was visiting my daughter’s second grade class and the teacher started a discussion about Martin Luther King and the importance of having dreams. The children’s ideas about dreams were interesting, “Being able to make your own decisions,” “Peace in the world, no war,” “Stop cutting down trees to save the environment.” Then the teacher went a step further and gave them a piece of paper to help them create their own “Dream Story Organizer.” I thought I’d share that with you today.
Smart Women Dream Big
January 13, 2011 By
Smart Women Get Off The Sidelines
October 14, 2010 By
Soccer season 
has arrived and my kids are avid players. In the fall, we live the AYSO mantra, “All Your Saturdays Occupied.” Fortunately, I enjoy watching my kids play sports so it’s a lot of fun. One of the AYSO rules is staying off the field if you’re not officially involved in the game. If you’re not a player, coach or referee, you do not cross the line onto the playing field. This got me thinking about how Smart Women need to get off the sidelines and become a player in their Big Ideas, Dreams and Goals if they really have a desire to make them happen.
Smart Women Take Their Business Offline
June 10, 2010 By
The other day, I 
was speaking with a smart woman entrepreneur and at one point she said, “Joy, I think I need to take my business offline.” My response? “Bravo!” In today’s world, with all of its moving parts and the opportunities to build an online business, I sometimes see entrepreneurs leaving a valuable tool out of their marketing plan—building “offline” relationships to create another stream of referrals.
Smart Women Know Who to Ask
April 19, 2010 By
Have you ever had a Big Idea that you
were over the moon about only to have your hopes dashed because you shared it with someone who you trusted and they told you (typically in a very flat tone) “that will never work.” I’ve had this unfortunate experience happen to me on more than one occasion over the last two decades as an entrepreneur. It’s painful isn’t it? You get all excited about the possibility of living your passionate life and someone pops the air in your dream balloon!
Smart Women Have Dreams Too!
January 21, 2010 By
My son Jack came home from school today with an excited, “Yippee Mom, there’s no school next Monday because it’s Martin Luther King Day!” A few minutes later he comes running back into the kitchen and asks, “Mom, who is Martin Luther King anyway?” Wow—what a question. How do I answer that one and still have time to get dinner on the table?
So here goes. Martin Luther King was a man who lived in courage and vision every day of his life. He was a man who most likely lived in fear and faced challenges for pursing his dreams and convictions. In August of 1963, he gave a speech entitled, “I Have A Dream”, which changed the way this country saw equality and fairness forever.
Smart Women Love, Give……and Have Fears
November 12, 2009 By
This morning, as I sit here at my desk looking out the window at a beautiful, ![11-12-09Article[2]](http://smartwomensolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/11-12-09Article2-Joy-with-husband1.jpg "11-12-09Article[2]")
sunny fall day, I’m a bit at a loss on how to begin this article. This article isn’t any different from the others I share with you each week. As usual, it’s about my own life and the reflections that I believe are helpful to other Smart Women. This article is about loving deeply, giving gifts and feeling fear along the way. Sounds like something all women deal with—yes?
Over the last few months, I’ve been going through testing at UCLA Medical Center here in Los Angeles to determine if I might be a possible match to donate one of my kidneys to my husband, Greg. Greg has Polycystic Kidney Disease and one of the affects is possible kidney failure over time. His kidney function has steadily been declining and we’ve known for some time that this day would come. What we didn’t know until now, is that I am, in fact, a match! On Tuesday, December 1, we will go together to UCLA Medical Center where I will undergo a procedure to remove one of my healthy kidneys and Greg will receive that kidney so he can feel healthy, energetic and enjoy life to the fullest once again.
Why do I tell you this story? Because what I’m going through right now holds many similarities for women. Women love. Women give. Women have fears. Some days I want to go jump in my bed, pull the covers over my head, go to sleep and wake up to realize that this has been a bad dream. Do you think I’m scared? You bet. Do I have anxiety? Of course. Will I feel the fear and do it anyway? Absolutely. How do you feel the fear and do it anyway? I’m sure, as you are sitting here reading this, you are thinking about some fears that you have, right? And it’s possible that you haven’t been able to overcome that fear yet.
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