Jane Barr Horstman & Associates

My Strategy – Be Kind

A strategy is a plan of action designed to achieve a long-term or overall objective.  The policy I have applied throughout my personal life, as well as my career, is to treat people with respect and honesty.  It is my nature.  Those around me may also say that it is my nature to be generous and sympathetic. I can’t help it, I’m nice, I am just wired that way.  If you met the team at JHB&A you will find that I attract like-minded women.

This strategy is hailed as a more productive way to run a business.  According to a 2014 article in the Harvard Business Review, “A willingness to help others achieve their goals lies at the heart of effective collaboration, innovation, quality improvement, and service excellence. In workplaces where such behavior becomes the norm, the benefits multiply quickly“.Read More

Relationships are Essential

If you have been keeping up on the brief you know that Jane Barr Horstman & Associates is focused on relationships.  Relationships with our community, our clients and ourselves. That’s why it is easy to concur with the following quote from Tina Hovsepian,

“As one of my mentors has always expressed to me,
behind every business there are people,
and people function in society via relationships.
Therefore, successful business is built on good relationships.”

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Leaning on professional guidance and personal connections has been, and will continue to be, key to my success.

In February the brief talked of supporting and championing each other.  In March, it was about self-care.  This month, it’s all about me!

Previously I mentioned a book that has been helpful, The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down, by Haemin Sunim.  The first line of his prologue is, “As a Zen monk and former professor at a small liberal arts college in Massachusetts, I am frequently asked for advice on dealing with life’s challenges”

No wonder I find this book inspirational and comforting.  Dealing with life’s challenges is what I do.  There was the marriage that I could not afford and the telephone pole that jumped in front of my car. In my sixty plus years I have found myself in many dilemmas and disasters.  If I am lucky, there will be a few more, (hopefully not as disruptive) episodes in my future.  Because living a full life means the occasional calamity.Read More

As a team we can accomplish more …

The February brief was both an introduction and a call to action.  The action is to be aware of our words and conduct towards each other, and to strive to be supportive of one another, especially women.   Jane Barr Horstman and Associates, woman owned and staffed almost entirely by women, was founded, not only on the principle that all our clients deserve white glove service, but that we are a team, working together.

As a team we can accomplish more, reduce stress and celebrate success exponentially.  The sum being greater than its parts.  But this does not diminish the value of each part and that is what I am sharing with you today.  The value of your time, your wisdom and your health is of paramount importance.  And although you, like I, probably did not grow up with many examples of self-care, the time has come when it cannot be denied.  This is not a mild suggestion that you schedule a massage once a month.  This is a rally cry that you shift the way you perceive your life so that taking care of you is of supreme significance.Read More

Introduction to JBH&A the brief

Welcome!

This is the brief, a monthly newsletter from me to you.  My goal is simple: to share concise stories that inspire and connect our communities, and those stories will hopefully support the idea that the most valuable networking is that which happens internally.  Realizing that we are all in this together.

As many of you know, Jane Barr Horstman & Associates has been strategizing and executing high level administrative concierge services in the Delaware Valley for over thirty years.  Behind the scenes and on the front line, the Associates and I are exceptionally skilled and particularly fearless in our determination to assist you in reaching your goals.  One of the reasons that we are able to provide white glove service with front porch ease is the intrinsic recognition that we are all in this together.  And as I look back on 2018 I can see that tenet is more relevant than ever.Read More