As a woman, you're so good at addressing the needs of your family or your community.

If your child gets hurt on the monkey bars, you rush in to make it better. If your church needs volunteers for a bake sale, you're the first to put your hand up. If your local food bank appeals for more non-perishable items, you're the first in line at the grocery store.

You are able to find needs in everything around you, yet you stumble when it comes to your own business.

It's time to use your sixth sense for your business as well. Look for a need, then address it by developing a product or service.

• Don't just launch yet-another-virtual-assistant company. Ask your target audience what's missing, then fill that need.
  

• Don't write yet-another-ebook on a topic that's been beaten to death. Instead, ask your clients what their biggest problem is then fill that need with a well-researched information product.
  

• If you notice spelling mistakes or grammatical errors in someone's writings, send them a quick email offering your editing services.
  

• Don't just become yet-another-professional-organizer. Instead, ask busy people why they would hire someone to organize their space, then start your business satisfying that need.
  

When someone tells you they have a need and you offer your services, dont look at this as a hard sell. Look at this as a smart sell.

While you may be a great mom or a great volunteer, it's now time to use your nurturing trait for your business as well. Your prosperity depends on this.

Leesa Barnes

An Internet maverick with a solid technology background, Leesa Barnes helps businesses use podcasting to drive search engine traffic to their website and build profitable relationships with their customers.

She is co-author of Jump Start Your Podcast and she comments on podcast optimization techniques in her blog and podcast called Podonomics.

Leesa spent the last 12-years in the Information Technology field, most recently at Sun Microsystems. With tech-savvy and street smarts working in her favor, Leesa quickly mastered the secret to quick, effective marketing on the Web and used this information to launch Savia Lane, her most successful web venture to date.

Through Savia Lane, Leesa has afforded women entrepreneurs the resources, confidence and technological tools needed to take their expertise into the Web arena and start making money on their own terms.

Leesa is a podcaster, speaker and author and in her spare time, she officiates basketball games, watches Battlestar Galactica and plays with new technology gadgets. Her favourite season of the year is winter because of her 9-year obsession with skiing.