If you are an avid listener of Tin Shingle TuneUps, then you've heard our resident PR Expert, Sabina Hitchen say all of the time: "Closed mouths do not get fed!" Being that she had been my business partner for eight years, it's a phrase that is branded in my mind, and motivates me forward.

Lately, I have been pushing myself to speak up and out about what my business offers. Normally a reserved person about my businesses, recently I needed to get louder so that I didn't fade away in competition. The results have surprised me. Here is what has happened so far:

• New Office: I have been saying out loud for the past year that I have wanted to move out of my home office and into an office in a building. As I walked to a going-away party for a pair of talented designers, the fantasy of using their office struck me. Normally I'd keep this a fantasy, but since I'd been saying it out loud to others, I didn't hold back when I ran the idea past people at the party. Their enthusiasm encouraged me, and I Instagrammed the landlord while I was at the party. Then the girls gave me her text. I was DETERMINED. To get the space, I had to pitch the landlord with my concept of what I'd be doing in there. Not only would I be having an office, but a new world of physical connections with others opened up. Tin Shingle could have workshops! A Little Beacon Blog could host Pop-Up shops! People could rent the space for their own workshops, fashion shows and visions!

  
   

• Interview With Nicole Feliciano, Founder of Momtrends: I accepted an invitation to do a Private TuneUp for a former member of Tin Shingle, to address ten of their Irish clients about how to appeal to bloggers in the states. Also presenting was the Creative Director from Momtrends, Mandy Fisher. Some of our best TuneUps are interviews with other business owners for our Founders Secrets series, so after the webinar, I researched the founder of Momtrends, Nicole Feliciano, and suggested to Mandy that she be a guest on a TuneUp, which she accepted. Interviewing Nicole was such an inspiration and delight (which you can listen to here), and to learn more about her drive to help moms start their own businesses, as she did.

So, this is a reminder to myself to speak what I want. I need to remind myself to do it every day!