BeBe Burnett and Burnett Group Enterprises, LLC

What's your line? Tell us about your business or business pursuits.
Burnett Group Enterprises, LLC. We have three online stores: http://www.ladiesgolfaccessories.com/, http://www.collegefansite.com/, http://www.seniorinformationsite.com/, the last one is scheduled to open June 2005. We list products on ebay. We deliver products that are needed and wanted to customers.

How long have you been in your profession, or in your current business?
The company was formed in May 2002.

What prompted you to start your own business?
There was a need for the products we sell and we are trying to fulfill that need, through competitive pricing and specific products.

How did you decide what business to pursue?
Ladies need golf gifts because most stores sell golf gifts for men. Ladies golf gifts are difficult to find.College fans are always searching for gifts. We want to offer what is popular in collegiate gifts.Senior citizens need help with gifts and health aids. We want to alleviate some of the trouble they may be having finding products.We are keeping our pricing the same as physical stores, or below physical stores.

Describe how your prior experiences influenced or helped you.
I was raised by two parents, who were very unselfish givers. I watched as they so lovingly gave to family and friends. I am proud of the way that my parents influenced my life to enjoy helping others.

Are there resources or networking you find beneficial in your current business?
Yes, I have met wonderful customers, business associates and vendors that I enjoy contacting.

Did your present business require a financial investment to get started?
Yes, we needed funds to set up our online stores.

If so, how did you acquire or fund the start-up costs? It was savings that we had acquired.
What major roadblocks have you experienced? Explain how you dealt with them.
There are lots of roadblocks that we have encountered. One that stands out is the news that I received in February, 2004. After tests were done, the doctor shook his head, reading the report. After what seemed like several hours, he looked up at me and said, “You have a brain tumor.” On March 18, 2004, I had brain surgery to remove 2 tumors the size of 2 peas. Recovery was slow, but I kept going. I knew that laying in the bed feeling sorry for myself was not the way I was going to go. I have a few problems today, but I do not let that stop me.

Have you made mistakes you would like to share with other women entrepreneurs?
I need to be more organized. That is a characteristic of me. Mistakes occur and they are inevitable. Just move on and keep going.

How many hours a day does your business require of you?
I need to put in 8 hours a day. I have a mother that I visit, I have 3 sons, a daughter-in- law, grandson and granddaughter that I visit. I have friends and family that I visit. I work some hours at night, sometimes in bits and pieces during the day. The importance of my family and friends sustains me and keeps me working.

How do you feel your income from your business compares to the income you would receive if you were in the traditional business sector, or workforce?
I am not showing a profit at this time, but I am sure what I am making now is higher than if I was in the traditional business sector. The reason for this is because there are few demands for a 59 year old woman.

Are you meeting your financial expectations or needs?
I have more expenses than profit and am hopeful that a profit will show soon.

How do you rate your job frustration over the past week? Very high.
Month? Very high
Year? Very high, business has been down for this 2005 year.

How do you rate your job satisfaction over the past week?
I am excited about all the new products that we are going to be selling. I am enthusiastic and hope that our customers will be also.
Month? Very satisfied as I know that business will pick up soon.
Year? Very satisfied as we have another website that we are starting.

What has been your biggest challenge in running your own business?
The expenses.

What has been your biggest frustration in running your own business?
The expenses.

What has been your biggest satisfaction in running your own business?
Pleasing customers and making friends with business associates, vendors and customers.


Remember that old advertisement, if you had a beauty secret, would you share? If you had a business secret, would you share? If you would share, what is your business secret?
1) Treat people with dignity and respect.
2) Be honest in all you do.
3) Expect something good each and every day. 4) Do the best you can do each day.

What advice would you give women who would like to become self-employed?
Do something that you like to do, find a need and fill it.

While you are juggling your business, home, and relationships, do you feel sometimes one part of your life is overemphasized, while another part might be neglected?
I am a juggler. I am trying very hard to get all the important events in my life. I believe I can do this for I love all the things in my life. I love God. I love my family, my friends, my church, my company, my business associates, my customers and my vendors.

If so, how do you reclaim a good balance?
I just keep going and don’t read as many magazines as I used to read. I work at night. I work weekends.


What’s hardest about interweaving the different parts of your life?
I do not get enough hours in the day to finish all the things that I would like to finish.


Does your present employment reflect your childhood interests or dreams?
As mentioned earlier, I was raised in by two very unselfish parents. They put others first in their lives. Yes, the online stores that we have are closely related to my upbringing. I put my customers first. I respect their needs and treat them as I would my best friend. I enjoy giving people what they are seeking; whether that be information, a collegiate gift, a golf prize or a health aid for a senior citizen.

How are you preparing your children to be ready to reach for their own dreams?
My three sons are seeing first-hand that this job of independence from corporations is not easy. There are setbacks which you have to be able to jump over and “Keep ‘a going.” You cannot be negative—always be open for that something good that is getting ready to happen.

Any idea what you would be doing now if you weren't doing this?
Waiting on my husband.

If you could do anything, what would it be?
Make money to pay expenses, pay the church, give gifts to family and friends, find some new clothes. Where do you see yourself and your business 5 years from now?
I see, in 5 years, running several online stores to fulfill the need of customers with a profit shown. 10 years? I see, in 10 years, satisfaction with customers and profit overwhelming expenses.

Is there any one thing you can point to that was absolutely critical to your success?
Yes, there is. My family and my faith in God.

My father was wonderful. He died in October, 1994, from cancer. He gave me the intestinal fortitude to embark on an endeavor such as 3 online stores. He gave me the ability to believe in myself, when others did not. He gave me the confidence to see myself as successful. His very name keeps me going because I know if he were here with me (and he is), he would be telling me to not get down and to do my best and everything good will fall into place. He gave me the good fortune to understand that I, and only I, am responsible for my actions; whether that be good or bad. He gave me the strength that tells me I can do anything that I want to do. When you are faced with an obstacle, go for it and be happy.

My mother is wonderful. She is very loving and caring, like my Father. She has taught me so much. When I had my brain tumor roadblock, she found me a poem, ‘Keep A-Goin’,’ by Frank Stanton. It has become my motto.

My mother likes this by John Wesley, founder of the Methodist Church:
“Do all the good you can;
By all the means you can;
In all the places you can;
At all the times you can;
To all the people you can;
As long as ever you can.”

Also this describes my mother: “Some people radiate an indescribable glow, as beautiful as any sunset, that changes the atmosphere whenever they enter a room. They have a loving spirit that brings joy and disperses tension. I know several people who have this gift, and I’m sure you do, too. What is their secret? Simply, it’s having an awareness of God’s presence in their own lives that lights up everything around them. They believe in God, and ask Him daily to ‘make his face to shine upon them’ (Numbers 6:25). Lifetime of Positive Thinking by Ruth Stafford Peale.

My sons are wonderful and so is my daughter- in-law, grandson and granddaughter. They are a reason that I work. They give me the support and encouragement that sustains me through hard times. They have become my friends and I rejoice. I enjoy people and giving them what they want. My sons are very thoughtful and kind to me and others. I believe, when the time comes, that they will be very successful running Burnett Group Enterprises, LLC. God has surely blessed me with good parents and sons, daughter-in- law and grandchildren, family and friends.

My husband has been sharing his money with me for 38 years, and I am very grateful to him for that.

The Lord has surely blessed me with a very interesting life full of surprises and accomplishments.


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Michelle Dunn: How a Woman Became a Successful Bill Collector in a "Man's Industry" and How You Can, Too!

I have worked in the credit industry for over 17 years now. When I first started out, I only knew a very few women in the industry. That number has grown over the years, but not by much. Being a bill collector has always been categorized as a “man’s industry.”

When I was a Credit Manager for other companies I worked for, I always did a good job, and collected more money than any other collector who had my job before me. I loved the job, I loved the challenge, and I loved that I could physically “see” my results by watching the bottom line of bad debt diminish. I once made a chart to bring to my review to show my boss how much more money they had and how much less bad debt and bad credit risks they had because of my efforts. I got to the point that I could not make any more money at these companies, as I was at the top of my pay for that position. I was also always bored. Once I had the credit situation under control, I wiped out my own job! So I started writing credit policies for the companies I worked for.

I started my own collection agency in 1998, without ever having worked at a collection agency. My experience was working in credit and being a bill collector for other companies. I did work with collection agencies, by placing accounts with them, and found a local agency that was very helpful and would network with me rather than see me as competition. I was very happy for that help and guidance, since most people did not think I would be successful. They obviously don’t know me very well.

I did take courses through Dun & Bradstreet and also read every law book on credit and debt collection I could get my hands on. I joined the American Collectors Association and took advantage of everything they had to offer. I joined networking groups online and started my own networking group with a website http://www.credit-and-collections.com/ because I could not find a group or website in this field. Even though I have now sold M.A.D. Collection Agency, I maintain and moderate Credit & Collections and we have over 600 members.

I know that anyone can do anything they set their mind to. I did this because I wanted to be home for my children and have the flexibility to pick them up at school and go to school functions, but still needed to support myself and my children. That will motivate you! If you have to keep working and get clients so you can buy groceries, you will.

No matter what you choose to do, if you are determined and keep learning, have drive and are motivated, as long as you are doing what you love and doing the best job you can do, you will be successful. For me it just happened to be collecting money.

Any woman can do this job; you do need start up funds, but not much. I started with a few thousand dollars and kept my day job until I had enough clients to quit. I then kept my day job as a client and did their collections as well. I started out doing everything manually, and then bought a computer; I still kept my files manually until I could purchase some low cost collection software. I did everything myself to save money; I learned marketing and sales, and continue to educate myself on debt collection and new laws and changes in the industry every day. I know women who start this business at their dining room table. This is a hard job, and you have to be organized, have thick skin and be knowledgeable about collection laws and business in general. If you have kids at home you need to organize and make arrangements so you can make collection calls, be professional (without the dog barking in the background, or a child crying) and maintain your sanity when your kids are crying for your attention and the guy who just received your dunning notice calls you to explain to you that he wants to speak to the man in charge.

Michelle Dunn has over 17 years experience in Credit and Debt collection. She is the founder and president of Never Dunn Publishing, LLC, is a writer, publisher, consultant and the Editorial Advisor for Eli Financial Debt Collection Compliance Alert Newsletter.

Michelle started M.A.D. Collection Agency in January 1998 and ran it successfully until she sold it in December 2004. She owns and runs Credit & Collections.com an online community for credit and business professionals. She has been featured in Ladies Home Journal, PC World, Home Business Magazine, Home Business Journal, Entrepreneur, The Internet Web Source, Professional Collector, and in Home Based Business for Dummies, Shameless Marketing for Brazen Hussies, From the Home-Front The Simple guide to starting and Running a Home based business, she was a featured guest on (NPR) National Public Radio and has been in many newspapers nationwide. She has many published articles and 3 published books to add to her list of accomplishments. She is now publishing two more titles in her Collecting Money Series as well as a boxed set. Visit http://www.michelledunn.com/ for more information on any of Michelle’s books and services or email her at michelle@michelledunn.com

Publishers, you have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free
of charge, as long as the bylines are included. A courtesy copy of your publication is
appreciated: mailto:michelle@michelledunn.com Michelle Dunn, PO Box 40, Plymouth NH 03264

Title: How a Woman became a successful Bill Collector in a “Man’s Industry” and how you can too!
Author: Michelle Dunn
Author website: www.michelledunn.com
Word count: 707

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Jill Divine--I Am Living My Dream

I am living my dream because finally I am free. Free from physical and mental pain and also control. Two years ago my life was so different. I have chronic rheumatoid arthritis and it was very out of control. The steroids had taken control of my body and bloated it beyond recognition, but didn’t help the pain. I’d also had both knees and hips replaced to help me walk better, but that was no longer helping.

On top of all that I didn’t realize how much I was allowing myself to be controlled by my ex-husband. He himself had a debilitating illness and I thought it was that making him behave the way he did, but I now know differently. I had reached a point in my life where I was no longer living, but just surviving. My friends now tell me that my eyes were dead and that my spirit was slowing dying.

Thankfully I have always had a belief in angels and one day this was what saved me. As I struggled to remain positive, I found myself reading more and more books on angels; through this I took up meditation to try and bring some peace and calm to my life.

During meditation I kept seeing an amazing story. It fascinated me and the more I was given, the more I felt that I just had to write it down. I announced to my son that I was going to write a book. He applauded and encouraged me. My ex husband, needless to say, scoffed and ridiculed me, but for once I ignored it. I was so inspired that I wrote and wrote, and when the first book was finished I started on the second one.

This was the start to me being able to cast off negativity and regain my positive energy as that tiny spark inside me ignited into a burning flame. I had never been allowed out in the evening during my marriage, but now I rebelled and went to meditation classes. Here doors started to open for me as I learned how to take control of my life and to keep that positive energy in it.

What a big shock for my ex! Here was I, now in control and doing what I wanted. Needless to say he didn’t like it and life did indeed become very difficult for me. Worse was to come when David, my seventeen-year-old son, nearly died on Boxing Day 2003. He was diagnosed with Diabetes Mellitus, but thankfully they managed to save him. After that I knew that life had to change. I told my son that I felt we should leave and live alone.

He was over the moon. Unknown to me, he really disliked and was scared of his father, and had always hoped that one day I would take him away and we would live alone. Life was not easy as we lived alone, money was short, but we survived and, most importantly of all, enjoyed our freedom.

Those books, THE BEARS, were just my first step to my new life. Initially, although a wonderful story, I still had a lot to learn on how to write. I took many courses, including learning to write film scripts. Then I wrote ANJOY – GOD’S GIFTS. When it was finished, I knew it was fantastic. My friends agreed. I sent it to the publishers and it was accepted. I was now an author!

I’m sure anyone who has had a book published knows how wonderful that feels, and when the author copies arrived, I felt so proud at what I had achieved. I am now busy promoting this book by writing positive energy articles to get myself noticed and also help others become aware of how positive energy could help them. I have rewritten THE BEARS books and am in the process of sending them to the publishers.

And my son David? Well I am proud to say he has gone from strength to strength. He is now a wonderful young man who is finally living his life freely as all teenagers should do. I am so proud of him.

Freedom is priceless.

Queen Anjoy
Jill Divine
www.divinelady.co.uk
Author of ANJOY – GOD’S GIFTS
Tells the story of how good overcomes evil
by the unleashing of the positive force we all possess.

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Erica Miner and 'Tales From A Journaling Queen--A Journal of a Voyage"

Journaling has been my passion since I was a teenager. In the past two years since I published my journal-based novel, Travels With My Lovers, I have been inspiring people to journal via my lectures. My Journaling mission is the driving force behind my ‘Queendom.’ Wherever I go, I am asked to motivate people to express their inner thoughts and gain personal insight through Journaling.

My recent stint as a ‘special lecturer’ on Celebrity Cruise Lines was a voyage within a voyage: the journey from violinist to writer and lecturer and ‘Journaling Queen’. How did I get from that journey to this one? How did my life path lead me to a cruise ship in the Pacific? How did I morph from professional violinist to writer and lecturer? As my husband Christian and I gaze at the retreating skyline of San Diego, I contemplate this strange but wonderful journey of mine.

As a child of Russian immigrants, growing up in Detroit, it seemed natural for me to be drawn to the Arts. My mother had directed ballet in her native Odessa, and I started ballet when I was five. My father, a talented violin student in his youth, first put a violin in my hands when I was nine.

But in fact, I started out as a writer even before I ever touched a violin. When I was seven, the wise elders at my elementary school determined that I be placed in an after school Creative Writing Program. (In those days, there was actually money in school budgets for such things.) I remember plunging into writing with more passion than I had ever done with ballet, and my love for writing was thus fostered early on.

Later on when I was about to start high school my father, ever mindful of my artistic potential, gave me a small date book he had been given at work. Mind you, he was also a talented writer; but for some reason, he thought it important that I have it.

Even at the tender age of thirteen I realized that this date book could be my faithful companion through the perilous journey of adolescence. I promised myself to write it in everyday and did so with a passion. I poured out my heart into that little book: all my self-doubt, my hormone-driven angst, my ecstasy and confusion about my first boyfriend, my delight at the camaraderie of the three wonderful young girls who would become my friends for life - this all went into my daily journal, which I wrote in everyday until I left for college.

In the years following college I got married, had my two kids and began my professional career as a violinist with the Metropolitan Opera in New York. There was little time for Journaling, though I did manage a few pages now and then. But then the first bombshell dropped when my husband left me – for another man.

I was devastated. Suddenly I found myself single, with two little kids to raise and support while holding down a high-pressure job. I was so overwhelmed it was all I could do to keep myself from leaping out the window of my ninth-floor Manhattan apartment. I was indeed a ‘desperate housewife’ who desperately needed help.

But help came, in the form of a caring friend who one day handed me a leather-bound book with blank pages. I knew then what I had to do. Each night after coming home from the opera, picking up the kids from the babysitter and tucking them in, I curled up in bed with my journal. I spilled out my guts at the injustices of what I was suffering: being abandoned and heartbroken; having to fulfill, on my own, the complex needs of two school-age children; being exhausted from running back and forth from family to workplace, while being counseled not to ‘bring my problems to work.’

My journal was my best friend, my lifesaver. I survived. I moved to New Jersey, where my children could have a more humanizing environment. During summer breaks from the opera, when the kids were with their father, I fulfilled my lifelong dream of traveling to Europe, the place of my roots. My adventures were so intriguing that I journaled them, then put them aside. (After all, I was a musician, not a writer.) And when my children were older and less dependent on me I was lucky enough to meet my husband Christian, who gave me the love and support I had been lacking for so many years. I felt blessed in my new life.

Then I got clobbered with a second bombshell: a speeding motorist who crashed into me as I was returning home from work. After months of intensive physical therapy for injuries involving my neck, shoulder, hands and wrists, I began the gradual return to a normal work life. But within weeks of the grueling Met Opera schedule, the pain in my hands and wrists became unbearable; after a year and a half of immense effort, it became evident that I would have to give up my professional life as a violinist.

Again, as with the dissolution of my first marriage, I was devastated. I had to give up the Met, but I also knew I would need to find a creative outlet. I went back to my writing.

I became passionate about screenwriting, and after writing several screenplays and winning some awards, I thought it might be wise to live near L.A., where I could work regularly with my screenplay consultant, Ken Rotcop. Christian and I had both lost all patience with the brutal New York winters, but we couldn’t fathom actually living in Los Angeles proper, so San Diego seemed the perfect choice.

After I had finished my fifth screenplay, I had a sudden urge to write a novel. I remembered the journals I had written during my travels in Europe and proposed a storyline to Ken: a young mom who suddenly finds herself single when she learns a dark secret about her husband finds adventure in far-off lands and discovers what she wants – and deserves - from life. ‘Write it,’ declared Ken; and Travels With My Lovers was born.

But having fulfilled my desire to write and publish a novel, I had absolutely no clue that I would then have to promote my book, or how I would go about it. I began to network, getting out and meeting people who would steer me in the right direction. I attended seminars, such as Jack McClendon’s Encourage Mint series in Carlsbad, and I met Cynthia Brian, who coached me in the fine art of lecturing. I sent press releases to local newspapers and was invited to give talks for book clubs and women’s clubs. I took to lecturing effortlessly: my ‘inner performer’ was ecstatic.

Then Ken was asked to give lectures on cruise ships and offered to recommend me. ‘Travels With My Lovers is a perfect topic for that,’ he affirmed. I was not about to argue with that wisdom. I interviewed with a booking agency, and within a few weeks I found myself on a Celebrity Cruise to the Caribbean as a ‘a Special Interest Lecturer.’

It was a role I would never have imagined for myself, this journey within a journey, but it felt so natural. I lectured on my re-invention from violinist to novelist. I spoke of the joys of Journaling. I shared stories of ‘Opera Stars I Have Known.’ My post-cruise ratings were off the charts. Perhaps, I thought, this is really what I was born to do. But the Journaling lectures were by far the most popular, and I decided I would focus most on those. It was then that I began to feel like the ‘Journaling Queen.’

After the first cruise, I was soon booked for another to Bermuda, a place I had always dreamed of. Then came the opportunity to sail from home base, and Christian and I were off to the Mexican Riviera, another uncharted territory for us.

As soon as my husband Christian and I boarded the Mercury, bound for Mexico, we felt as if we had never left. After cruising as a lecturer on both the Celebrity Galaxy and Zenith in ’04, Celebrity Ships were beginning to feel like home away from home. The deck and floor plans of this vessel felt so familiar we could almost walk them in our sleep.

Within minutes of boarding, I already found myself ‘meeting and greeting’ people, a role that is both pleasurable and fascinating for me. As a lecturer, this is de rigueur - you are part of the ship’s ‘diplomatic corps.’ A ship is like a floating UN - so many languages being spoken at any given time, by passengers and staff. The constellation of Greek names among the ship’s crew read like a manifesto for the 2004 Athens Olympics.

We arrived at our cabin to find our steward waiting for us. A small, affable fellow, his name is Hopit, pronounced ‘Hobbit’ in Indonesia. How strange and wonderful to be ‘stewarded’ by a denizen of Middle Earth!

By the time we were settled in, our stomachs were growling. What is it about being on a ship that makes one ravenous from morning till night? Is it the constant motion, or the fact of food’s unremitting availability and presence - or the compulsion to satisfy an emotional need? These thoughts, as do all others, led me to Journaling, which is all about emotions. Unlike the chronicling of events set down in a diary, Journaling gives you that wonderful freedom of being able to express your emotions without fear of judgment. It’s possibly the best therapy that exists.

The more research I do on Journaling, the more I realize how many ‘issues’ are emotional - food, for example. I know too well how significantly food is related to feelings. When I was a violinist with the Metropolitan Opera in New York, ‘emotional eating’ was ubiquitous among Company members during long operas. Money is another emotional theme. How many of our habitual patterns with money relate to hang-ups from family experiences with parents and/or spouses and children? I love to discuss these points in my lectures and give suggestions on how to use those emotions to discover recurring patterns and find ways to deal with them.

In any case, I had this lecture-cruising down to a science by now: meeting with the Cruise Director and Assistant Director; connecting with my fellow lecturers; ‘meeting and greeting’ passengers, from lounges to pools and hot tubs to dining rooms and inviting them to hear me speak. But it was when I got up to talk to a room full of devotees who asked me to sign copies of my book afterwards that the queenly feelings really began to surface.

‘I’d given up Journaling, but you inspired me to begin again,’ one woman enthused.

‘I’ve been trying to motivate my teenage daughter to journal,’ another woman told me. ‘You’ve given me the tools to do that now.’

Reactions like that are what make me feel like a true Queen. Reactions like that make it all worthwhile. Mission accomplished.

I now had everything I needed to keep going, for what I came here for was to inspire people. But now I can do it in a different way than I had always imagined: not with the music from Verdi’s La Traviata but with the melodies of my own life journey.

And it is a journey that I am most privileged to continue. For the next several months, I will give talk and workshops and classes on Journaling, from my home base of San Diego to the wilds of Northern Michigan. My Queendom continues to expand. I feel very royal indeed.


© 2005, Erica Miner

Author of Travels With My Lovers
Fiction Prize Winner,
Direct from the Author Book AwardsTop-rated Lecturer,
Celebrity Cruise Lines
http://www.ericaminer.com/

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