Canadian Small Business Women

Connection, Synergy, Community

Tania DeSa: Canadian Small Business Woman of the Month of July 2014

Tania DeSa

Tania DeSa is a Personal Branding Strategist, Leadership Coach and Corporate Trainer whose mission is to inspire professionals to own their awesomeness to be seen and heard in any community.  She inspires professionals to see themselves differently then kick up their communication style to add value and achieve results- in business and in life.   www.taniadesa.com

Tania draws from intercultural experiences of traveling to over 70 countries and living, studying and working in Australia, Japan, Hungary, Spain, China and Switzerland. She holds an International MBA from ESADE Business School in Spain and Peking University in China, Honors Bachelor of Business Administration from Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada. She is a professionally trained coach from the Coaches Training Institute(CTI).

Tania has thrived in corporate sales and marketing management roles within the healthcare industry in such companies as Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Medtronic, Ecolab, Johnson & Johnson and has led strategic discussions at the World Health Organization in Switzerland.  Tania’s unique presentation style is a high energy collaborative one where she asks powerful questions, offers strategic frameworks and brings in real life stories to engage, educate and enlighten participants.

 

Tania offers customized corporate training programs in the area of Leadership Communication, such as:

  • Powerful Presenting: Empowering managers to enhance their presentation style and content in order to influence and persuade to achieve results. Ideal for marketing, sales, cross functional teams, R&D and management.
  • Leveraging your Personal Brand to Win: Inspiring employees to discover their strengths and learn how to maximize them to perform better, gain fulfillment in their work and create lasting impact. Ideal for new employees, teams, female leadership development and management.
  • Champion Building- How to create raving fans & long term partners: Learning how to create strong partners & key opinion leaders to champion messages and  help launch campaigns/new products in order to catapult sales growth. Ideal for sales, marketing, communications, PR & investor relations, and management.

Formats: Multimodal training programs with blend of group workshops and one on one coaching.  Ideal as a lunch and learn series, rotational program/development program course, team retreats, talent pipeline development and executive training.

 

Our Q & A with Tania DeSa

 

*What inspires you?
 People who are creating change in their world in a small way that’s having a big impact. Witnessing random acts of kindness and connection ( in the bus, grocery store or elevators). It’s inspiring to see people recognize their greatness and then act from it- it reminds me whats possible.
*As a small business owner, what achievements make you most proud?
I’m most proud of consistently extending my comfort zone and its always lead to awesome results when I have. First, leaving a very comfortable corporate life in Europe to repatriate to Toronto and start up a new business from scratch ( and to grow myself daily as a result). Second, starting before I felt totally ready- having the guts to make bold requests and pitch to big clients before I felt 110% ready. This year, its already led to running corporate training in the UK, leading workshops in San Francisco and planning a speaking tour in India.  I encourage myself to step over fear more often as its a huge part of being an entrepreneur.
*What advice would you give to other aspiring small business owners?
As Jim Rohn says” You are the average of the 5 people you hang around with most.”
Consciously seek out and develop your A Team- a  community of cheerleaders and supporters, accountability partners,  collaborators, mentors and employees. Invest in your own personal growth and development- I continually invest in coaching, online programs, attending conferences because I find people and resources to help me achieve my wildest goals. And community feels good!
*What new things can we look forward to from your business in the upcoming year?

I’m on a mission to help professionals see themselves differently and then kick up their communication style ( personal brand, presentation skills & leadership style) so that they can add value and achieve results- in business and life. I’m committed to taking this message globally and helping as many people take action as I possibly can. I’ll be running worskhops & webinars for small- large businesses to motivate their teams to take leadership to the next level and by early next year I’ll be heading to India to spread the message there too.

When The Going Gets Tough… What Next?

yvonne

 

When the going gets tough as an entrepreneur…

When you’ve done all you know to do. When your inner circle of strong supporters have encouraged you. When you’ve repeated all of your affirmations to stay motivated… what next? Perhaps you need to go back to the very beginning. The beginning being the dream and vision of ‘Why’ you started in the first place.

Many years ago when I decided to get an MBA, I remember attending my first semester and speaking with other students who seemed so far ahead of me on the pre-assignments and required readings, and it made me feel “Wow, can I catch up?”. I actually attended the first semester with the intention of asking to defer, but the administrator suggested I give it some time and see how I feel before making a concrete decision. I did give it some time, and found myself continuing with the programme. I have to admit that my plans to continue and not defer were bolstered by a fellow student who had encouraged me saying we had it in ‘us’ and would succeed one way or the other. So hey, I continued.

However, one thing I learnt and has stuck with me through my MBA (and life now) is that I always need to have a clear picture of my ‘Why’ before me. And for all those tough times I faced or was remotely tempted to throw in the towel during the programme, it was always that picture of my ‘Why’ that kept me going, and of course many strong hazelnut lattes!

Believe me when I say there were a few tough moments juggling the MBA with a full-time job, as well as a very challenging dissertation supervisor (to say the least), who I later found out was dealing with a personal crisis, which was in turn being taken out on me. Upon graduation at the end of the three-year programme, a few of my colleagues whom we started together had dropped out, deferred the program or were struggling to complete it for one reason or the other. All I can say is I was thankful to God, and having the picture of my strong ‘Why’ always before me.

Your strong why is that dream, vision or goal that you have clearly defined and desire to see it come to fruition. In John Maxwell’s ‘Put Your Dream to the Test’, he says that “If you can see your dream clearly – and keep it in front of you continually – it will help you to understand what you must sacrifice and what you must dedicate yourself to in order keep moving forward”.

Some guarantees on our journey to living our dreams and achieving our goals is that we will face challenges and setbacks, and that voice in our minds that keep asking us ‘why bother?’, quietly challenging us to quit and play it safe. It is at those times we will need to remind ourselves of our strong ‘Why’ amongst all the other strategies that keep us on track when the going gets tough. You are not allowed to play it safe “A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for” – John A. Shedd. You can’t afford to play it safe!

When the going gets tough, we keep going because our dreams speak louder, clearer and stronger, and remind us of ‘Why’.

Confused about what you need to do to start a business or take it to the next level? Need a to ensure you are on track with building your business? Download my Free “Business Start-up Checklist” to help you get started now and keep on track. http://bit.ly/bzchlist

 

Yvonne is a Change Consultant, Speaker & John Maxwell Leadership Coach who is passionate about working with Individuals, Entrepreneurs and Organisations to implement change, drive results and achieve their goals.   She can be reached at: www.oliveblue.com . www.facebook.com/oliveblueinc . www.twitter.com/oliveblueinc . www.youtube.com/ChangeYouWantTV

Praveeni Perera – Canadian Small Business Woman of the Month of February 2014

Praveeni

Praveeni Perera is a dynamic young entrepreneur. She is the CEO and co-founder of Professional Edge Consulting a corporate training company based in Ottawa offering training and consulting services to clients around the world. PEC provides training and consultancy services in three main focus areas : cultural intelligence, international protocol, and business etiquette.

Prior to launching her own venture in June 2011, Praveeni worked in the non-profit sector. She took on the role of  Project Director for a NGO heading international development projects in Africa and Asia.

Whilst pursuing her undergraduate degree in Biology, her work in the non-profit sector instilled in her an interest in cultural intelligence and intercultural relations.  Having always harbored an affinity for the business world Praveeni decided to further her education completing a MBA in International Business, which allowed her to combine her interest in cultural intelligence with her love for the corporate world. Praveeni is also a certified International Protocol and Corporate Etiquette Consultant.

In addition to her career Ms. Perera plays an active role in her community having clocked many hours as a volunteer at both the Ottawa Hospital and the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario. Praveeni currently sits on the Board of Directors for Immigrant Women Services Ottawa, a non-profit organization that provides immigrant and visible minority women and their families in Ottawa with the tools and support to achieve their full potential as members of Canadian society and participates in the elimination of all forms of abuse against women and children.

In her spare time Praveeni enjoys the arts; having played in a stage band in high school she has a great appreciation for music.  She enjoys writing and is a contributing writer for The Professional Edge business blog and  Restaurants and Hotels Magazine. Her articles have been featured online by MBAJobs.ca

Praveeni believes that a work –life balance is essential for success. She credits her achievements both personal and professional, to effective time management skills along with her driven and motivated personality.

OUR Q & A WITH PRAVEENI

*What inspires you?

Hearing about the successes of other entrepreneurs and business leaders inspires me. I think there’s a great deal to be learnt from the successes and failures of  leaders such as Jack Welch at GE, Richard Branson at Virgin, and even Canada’s own Arlene Dickinson.  Learning about the different styles of leadership they employed to tackle each situation is a great motivator for me.

*As a small business owner, what achievements make you most proud?

I’m most proud of launching and running our international workshops in South Asia. I had no idea what the South Asian market would be like going in and I took a risk that paid off. Although there were roadblocks  along the way I was able to successfully launch Professional Edge Consulting’s PR campaign, meet with HR leaders and host a myriad of successful workshops. This was a great challenge for me and a fantastic learning experience.
*What advice would you give to other aspiring small business owners?

The advice I would give other aspiring small business owners is to know themselves and their brand. In order to be able to market something successfully you have to know your brand inside out. You need to be aware of what services you are selling, who you’re selling to and be able to adapt your strategy to suit your market and audience.

Networking is also essential to growing your business. I would encourage aspiring entrepreneurs to be confident, get out there and build the connections they need to be successful in their field. There’s no substitute for hard work.
*What new things can we look forward to from your business in the upcoming year?

There will be a greater focus on cultural intelligence in our workshop offerings this year. For example we will be highlighting programs such as Let’s Talk It Out our conflict resolution workshop, and Lost In Translation, which focuses on communication. I am also in the process of authoring my first book on networking. You can also look forward to my monthly blog posts at The Professional Edge.

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