Samira Asemanfar

It is very simple. As most genius is (in retrospect).

As an entrepreneur, mother, friend, lover, spouse or whatever valuable role you play: are you a thermostat or thermometer?

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As a college student, I was on campus every day – not in class, but rather in organization meetings and events. I was always sitting in on project planning meetings. At the time, I thought leadership was learned and I was on a mission! I was thirsty to learn how to build, grow and lead.

Is leadership an inherent set of traits or can it be learned? Read More CLICK HERE

Many people say all entrepreneurs are a little ‘crazy’. What seems like a huge risk to most, doesn’t seem like a risk to most entrepreneurs.

I have grown up around many entrepreneurs: friends in college who had start-ups – some highly successful and others an immediate loss, members in business organizations, and USC alumni who have recounted their inspiring stories many times. I have learned that some kind of trauma or insecurity is what drives most entrepreneurs in their quest for success. Matthew Gwyther, an editor for Management Today, says, “As one-off mavericks, they elude categorization, yet the characters who launch and nurture businesses all seem to have something to prove.”

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Several years ago I took a four day self-improvement seminar. I will admit: it was a little cult-ish in style, but some of their exercises were useful and had great takeaways. One exercise in particular I will never forget. They divided the whole group of maybe sixty people into two groups. The instructor put each group into two different rooms and gave us instruction on a game, that I now cannot recall, and explained that we needed to strategize with our group to see how we can get the most points in the game. After thirty minutes or so, the instructor walked in and asked us to come back to the main hall. No one won. The only way to get the most points was to get out of our room and team up with our opponents.

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Remembering.
Sometimes I take the the smallest of abilities for granted. You can probably relate. When was the last time you appreciated your ability to simply remember?

Personally, I am always trying to find new perspective in order to grow. I take on new hobbies. I read books. I travel to far away countries. I make new friends and pick their brains. I take strides and stretch all in search of new perspective. But often, all it takes is to remember the same thing at different times in my life.

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“We all die. The goal isn’t to live forever, the goal is to create something that will.” – Anonymous

Recently, I drove along the coast on Highway One (CA-1). I couldn’t help but think about the challenges of paving a road along the crevices of an ever-changing mountain range.

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As I have gained more awareness in the past few years, I have noticed that I tend to look for distractions so that I can avoid my feelings. My go-to distraction? Anything productive. I am addicted to being productive. Cleaning. Organizing. Coming up with a new idea to bring sales up. Running errands. Answering emails. Work, work and anything that feels like work.

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‘Sink or swim’ should be revised to ‘sink or stay still.’

A friend of mine likes to tell a funny story about his ‘near death’ accident in the Honduras. He was swimming in the ocean when he all of a sudden gets an abdominal cramp. Following a recent appendicitis surgery, he started panicking. He was unable to move his body from excruciating pain and his mind was drowning in thoughts of fear. He thought he was going to die out in the ocean. He could not swim or move. There were no life guards…

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Wikipedia defines “beginner’s mind” as having an attitude of openness, eagerness, and lack of preconceptions when studying a subject, even when studying at an advanced level, just as a beginner in that subject would.

Adapting a beginner’s mind set has huge benefits that I would like to share with you. It all starts with the notion that if you approach any situation as a “beginner” would, you will enter into the experience with more room to receive and process and will then have more room to evaluate and react. If you approach a situation with an “I am an expert” mind set, you will enter into the experience with defenses you have built from your past experiences and will most likely be out to prove your mind set right, which is that you already know. You are less likely to learn and grow in the latter example.

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Recently, I was having dinner with a friend who is an attorney. He is thinking of getting into the restaurant and hospitality business and potentially out of the legal field. He started talking about why he wants to pursue this business and said something that really resonated with me.

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When I was first started working, I constantly doubted myself. I had this belief that there was a way to do business, a skill that I simply did not have and needed to find, like a lost hair brush in my house. I thought that…

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If an employee gives me their resignation and says they will stay for another two weeks, I usually do not want them even working in my company any more?

Often, if I know someone is leaving, I also feel that they are probably not putting in the kind of effort at work that they should be during their last two weeks. I want them out of there pronto! But sometimes, if I have the smallest amount of respect or value for the person…

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What happens to kids who are exposed to entrepreneurship?
Well, the hope is that there will be a permanent curiosity and a shift in perspective. The hope is that as kids they can start to look at the businesses they interact with daily and be curious as to how they operate, how they market themselves, what their profit margins are, etc.

For the past four weeks I had the honor of doing a workshop …

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When someone asks you “are you out of your mind?” it generally implies that you are crazy for the actions you are taking or thinking about taking. As an entrepreneur I highly encourage you to strive to be out of your mind, literally.

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Giving is part of our lives. We give our work, our hearts, intellect, advice, money, gifts, time… the list goes on. Learning why we give, can give us insight into ourselves and help us grow. Be careful not to miss forms of giving that you may not be attuned to, such as giving the right to someone to speak a certain way or giving your employee a day off when you know you need them. Many times you may find that you are giving out of fear, a desire to control or manipulate, or out of desperation.

Ask yourself before you give….

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When I was thinking of first starting up my own business, all I did was read bios and profiles of entrepreneurs. I wanted to hear what they had to say. So now the tables have turned and I want to share the words of two guys who started a company together called Spaphile. Founded in 2010, Spaphile.com is an online marketing platform that exclusively features discounted services from spas, salons, and other health and beauty treatment centers. They provide users with information about health and beauty as well as deluxe perks such as events and giveaways.

Founders
Michael Meschures & Omid Shokoufandeh, both age 24

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Lately, I’ve been learning about the difference between organic value and forced value. The difference is huge, but lies in the question: why? I met with a friend and very successful entrepreneur: Aaron Hageman, president of DDI, Inc. We shared our business challenges and opportunities, talked, analyzed and learned quite a bit in a 3 hour meeting last w

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Intangibles are hard to measure. Period.

As a business owner, it is an ongoing challenge to measure subjective components such as customer service or a positive work ethic. Things like sales are easy – they go up and they come down. Black and white. Duties like cleaning, answering phones, responding to emails, showing up on time, obeying dress code policies, following step by step directions… all easy. Either you did it or you did not do it. Black and white.

Intangible, subjective components of any business are difficult to measure. And if you are anything like me, when you can’t measure something and get a clear cut result, you just don’t want to deal with it at all. ….

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Rich by Webster’s definition means ‘having abundant possessions and especially material wealth.’ Socially we use it to indicate that one has a great amount of money. But when you think about it what does money bring… it brings more choices. The option to choose from a larger pool. It takes away many limitations. When people say, “I want to be rich.” I wonder if they mean they want to have more specific options or if they just arbitrarily want a certain amount of money. It’s a good question to ask and here is why.

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MICRO: “Macro, you suck! I come over your house and when I use your bathroom I open a drawer and there’s a million pieces of “I don’t know what to do with” garbage stuffed in there. People always think you know what’s up in the world… like ‘oh macro you’ve got your head on straight you know where you’re going in life.’ That’s a crock of S**t! You seem to…

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I’m not yet married, but I hear people say that in order to keep a marriage healthy and alive you should set up a date night periodically. Similarly, I have recently come to a realization: it is extremely important to keep your imagination alive as a business owner. When I first started Bellacures I was filled with enthusiasm, excitement, and lots of creative ideas for the brand, the operation and for our customers. Over time, as my infatuation with…

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Showing appreciation is so important. There isn’t a single human being that does not enjoy feeling appreciated. Sometimes, out of their awareness, people forget to show appreciation no matter how wonderful their intentions.

As a business owner, it is vital…

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Every entrepreneur needs to follow someone they admire. Why? To get inspired. To have someone to shadow, mentally. I have several people that I admire. One of them is Seth Godin, marketing genius, writer and entrepreneur. In today’s blog post he asks, “what is your competitive advantage?”…

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When setting goals use the SMART rule. Make sure that your goals are SMART!

Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Realistic
Time bound (create a deadline)

It’s not only important to set goals that meet the SMART rule, it’s important to…

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Recently I came across a quote by Helen Keller…

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens: but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.”

I started thinking about all the ways I tend to stand there and stare at a closed door, analyzing how…

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One of the first responses I get when I tell people that I am now blogging for JewishJournal.com is “how do you have so much time?” I always just giggle instead of providing an answer. One reason that I may have more time is because…

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Tzedakah, for many, has become another word for charity. Charity is about giving out of the kindness in your heart, generally when it is convenient. Tzedakah is not. It is about giving, consistently to those in need what is theirs, because it is an obligation on your part as a fellow member of humanity…

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A good friend of mine Randall Fried, owner of R House catering company, is always filled with wisdom. It could be his years of experience in the Kosher food business, teaching at Sinai Temple, leading March of the Living or it could just be his depth of knowledge and passion for history. During this Hanukkah season I quote him in saying…

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Some of the most successful entrepreneurs account for their success in creating their own crises. Why? …

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As the end of 2011 approaches, so does lots of change. With work at Bellacures, we are implementing the use of a new system which will change so many of what our staff is used to in our daily operations. In my personal life, I am also taking on a new operating system, a new way of interacting with the people in my life.

The last time we changed our OS at Bellacures, there was a bit of chaos.

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I have a policy – when you don’t know what to do, read. Reading helps give me new perspective and insight that will often strike an ‘aha’ moment where I come up with an effective strategy. Whether you want to start a business, already have one up and running or want to change businesses, these books are all useful! They are all business reading classics!

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Often people argue about the value of to-do lists. I hope my post gives you clarity on the importance of organization and creating proper to-do lists.

Some people think…
To-Do Lists = Waste of Time.
To-Do Lists = More Important Than Brushing My Teeth.
To-Do Lists? Wish I Could Be Good At That Sort of Thing.

Personally, my to-do list makes me a better manager, business woman, friend, partner, daughter, and now blogger (I already have a list of topics I want to share with the world).  I’m here to convince you to get your act together. Here is my perspective: …

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I was almost 19 years old, a business undergrad student at USC, and was at a lunch event with Paul Orfalea, the founder of Kinko’s. I was ecstatic thinking to myself: “oh my god, it’s him… I want to know how he did it! What do I say?” I wanted to connect with him so badly but I was at a loss for words because “how did you do it?” was not something I could just walk up to him and ask; it didn’t feel right. In reality, I just wanted his advice on anything he wanted to give it on and I wasn’t sure what to ask to get it. Luckily, I was…

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