I recently attended a meeting of women business owners. Each of us was asked to stand and tell the group a little about our businesses. One woman said in a very soft voice, that her business provided products and services to mothers. Someone asked her to be more specific, and she said she was just getting it off the ground and didn't want to share details yet. Hey, I'm all for keeping secrets secret, but if your business is a secret in a hotel conference room, it will also be a secret in a trade show filled with potential buyers. And then, you won't have much of a business at all.

You don't have to give away commercial trade secrets to share a bit about your business with a group, and you should always be ready to do so because you never know where the next business opportunity will come from. Always have a 3-4 sentence summary of your business stored away in your head and be prepared to share it when asked.

In business, what you don't say can hurt you. So get your 30-second "elevator speech" together and practice it until you can say it like a yoga mantra. Use active words and practice saying it with gusto and ease. Here's mine.

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Your elevator speech should hit all the high points of your business:

1. the name of the business
2. who you serve
3. your mission
4. where to go for more information

What's your elevator speech?