******
“Through thoughtful actions and awareness, I have managed to stay grounded and true to myself along the way, despite experiencing overwhelming abundance and success in a very short amount of time.”
- Dawn Gluskin – Founder & CEO, SolTec Electronics

This week, I am thrilled to share with you another exciting Big Fish success story – this time from Dawn Gluskin, Founder and CEO of SolTec Electronics, an 11-employee, $2million+ annual revenue company that sources obsolete and other hard-to-find board-level electronic components (for manufacturing clients) to help them keep their production lines up & running.  SolTec just celebrated their 2 year anniversary in July (2010)!

When Dawn’s friend, Big Fish Rachael Bender, recommended the Big Fish Nation program, she was skeptical:

My initial reaction was “My company is already doing really well.  I can’t even imagine more growth. What do I need this business development program for?”  LOL.  (I laugh now, because I hadn’t seen anything yet at that point!!).  I was also trying to justify the expense of the program. 

However, after a few phone calls with Lorin, I really felt like this program spoke to me.  I love how Lorin addresses non-traditional topics such as the spiritual side of being a business owner, incorporating your own beliefs and value system throughout the business model, and work/life balance issues.  A lot of other business development programs just focus on analyzing charts and financial data and that does not speak to me at all! 

So how did it turn out for her?  Dawn shared with me the three top things she has gotten so far from the Big Fish program this year:

1)     I have discovered how effective life coaching can be to help us become our best selves and shut down the little “gremlin” voices in our brain – so powerful and recommended to all!  Personal and professional life coach Amy Cotter has helped me through internal struggles and business issues and she always helps me find balance in it all.  She’s also a great “cheerleader” and pushes me to reach new boundaries, including writing my first book and reaching out to other women business owners to consult with them on growth strategies.

2)     I don’t let the clock control me or my emotions!  I am slowly learning to eliminate the phrase “not enough time” from my vocabulary. 

The first step to changing my thinking was bringing awareness to it. 

Next, I use one of Lorin’s tools and ask myself about a particular action:  “Is this aligned with my vision?”  If it does not align, than I don’t need/want to waste time on it!  If it does align, than the next question to ask myself is, “When?” 

Through the Big Fish program, we all have 10 year goal sheets where we list what goals or tasks we want to tackle in each year to get us towards the big 10 year vision.  So, maybe 2010 is not the right year to write my book due to all the other things going on in my schedule.  However, having it written on my 2011 sheets gives me some room to breathe and not feel pressured by the number of hours in the day. 

Taking the “not enough time” aspect away has greatly reduced the amount of stress I feel at any point. This is a POWERFUL tool!

3)      Through thoughtful actions & awareness, I have also managed to stay grounded and true to myself along the way, despite experiencing overwhelming abundance & success in a very short amount of time:

• I started the business in mid-2008.
• We grew 774% in 2009. 
• To date (Sept, 2010), we have grown another 300% over 2009. 
• We have also tripled our staff this year

During this same time period of major business growth, I also became a new mom and experienced a major personal loss as my brother passed away suddenly at the age of 33.  With this combination of pressure, stress, grief and newfound abundance on their shoulders, many people would crack under the pressure. 

However, although it’s been a process, I can happily say I feel more grounded, content, joyful, successful, and true to myself now than I have at any other point in my life.  Certainly the Big Fish program and business/life coaching has helped me to get to this point and I know that I am just getting started in my spiritual journey.

When I asked if she wanted to share anything else, Dawn spoke about the “Think Tank” part of the Big Fish program – a conference call where one of the women in the group brings up a topic that she is currently struggling with, and the other women in the group act as advisors. 

I  will never forget Peg Calvario saying to me, “Dawn, due to the amount of revenue you generate for your company, you are by far your company’s greatest asset.  And, you are not taking enough care of your company’s greatest asset!!”  She was so right! 

Some specific suggestions that I took from that call and implemented right away were:

• Schedule regular “me” time into my calendar (and treat it like any other appointment — don’t cancel or feel bad about it!)
• Practice meditation on a regular basis
• Schedule a date-night with my husband
• Schedule mommy-daughter “dates
• Address my grieving (which I realized I had tried to suppress)

I am truly in an amazing place right now because of the immense awareness and all the subtle changes and thoughtful actions I have since implemented into my daily life. 

Thank you Big Fish nation for helping me grow more than just my business model this year.  I feel like I have personally grown leaps & bounds and have awakened a strong spiritual calling & look forward to where this amazing journey takes me next!

To learn more about Dawn’s company, visit the SolTec Electronics website at http://www.soltecelectronics.com/, and feel free to email Dawn (click here), or connect via Facebook or Twitter:  @soltecelec .   

And by all means if Dawn’s story has you saying:  ‘I wanna be a Big Fish too!’ click here to email me (Lorin) today, because a new Big Fish group is starting October 20^th and we have a few spots left.  If this blog post is what inspired you,  email me and put DAWN’s BLOG in the subject line and I will give you a 10% discount on the program if you commit by Friday October 9^th and Dawn will receive credit toward any other program she might want to participate in.   We love to ‘spread the love’ at Big Fish.  I am looking forward to hearing from you!!