“Never, Never, Never Quit.” – Winston Churchill

I started my company in 2007 as a fresh 24-year-old MBA graduate who was undergoing thyroid testing for cancer. After the surgery proved that the growth was benign, I started thinking that at 24, my world could have easily and quickly changed – drastically.

I began moonlighting for about eight months before I had to make the choice to take the leap or stay in the corporate world. Thus, I jumped and started my company – NThreeQ Media.

My dad indirectly named my company – he wrote to me in a card once to, “Always remember N3Q.” Winston Churchill’s quote – “Never, Never, Never Quit.”

I am four years in the making; half a thyroid trying, woman entrepreneur who has successfully built a company that has had a steady upward growth. I have learned many lessons along the way and have kept a blog about all of the knowledge I have gained through valuable experience. Here is a recap of some of my most personal and valuable lessons:

In business, no one gets off scot-free

Rather than reflecting on the here and the now, focus more on opportunities and possibilities – truly change the way you think. Every time there is a negative or something that is difficult that comes up in business, I just focus more on the opportunities and possibilities that lie ahead.

Fight, fight and fight some more for balance

Work is number one. Clients are number one. Sleep and everything else is second. Fight for work/life balance and still take time for you, friends, family and animals. It is important to recharge – you aren’t any good to anyone if you are tired and stressed. I took my first vacation after 10 years – don’t wait that long.

Listen to all, and then evaluate to determine the best

Everyone has an opinion of how you should do things, what you are doing wrong, how you need to change, etc. I listen to one person in my life about business – my dad. He is my business advisor and the person that ultimately has my best interest in mind and nothing else.

There is seldom separation between business and personal

For a few months in 2010, nothing went right; between business and personal, I needed one thing to go right and it was just not going to happen. I found myself at a crossroads with a decision to make – push through or walk away. I’ve built a business on compassion where I put myself in my client’s shoes and walk their road to find a sensible solution. I hadn’t ever let my clients know what goes on in my life, but it was a hard few months and I could no longer push it aside. When I finally broke and told my clients what was going on, all understood and all were there for me. If I had just done that in the beginning it would have saved a lot of stress later on.

Doing business with friends

I learned that having a stronger plan, contract and understanding when you are working with friends is a necessity. Drawing solid lines and outlining expectations in writing will save the project and the friendship

Here are some other tidbits that have helped me in business:

• Chase Bank – They love small businesses; their benefits and people are amazing and everything is cost effective.

• Google Apps – It is an amazing item when dealing with emails and connecting people all over the place.

• Postling – Best social media consolidation. We all have to do it, but do we have to log in to every single account? No more, send posts and blogs from one dashboard, schedule them for later and track visits and comments.

• Mavenlink – Part of the Google Apps Marketplace, this solution is cost effective for project management all the while looking professional to your clients.

I hope that some of this information helps, I have learned many of things along the way some good, some not-so-good, but always necessary. At the end of the day, I do the only thing I can: order Chinese food and hope for a good fortune cookie.

To success!

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Angelina Gonzales is the Founder & President of NThreeQ Media. NThreeQ Media is a graphic design firm in Arizona that specializes in start-ups, non-profit organizations, restaurants, real estate companies, financial companies, among others. They are a full service organization offering graphic design, website design, branding and marketing. They can be found on both Facebook and Twitter.

As we continue to expand our support channels to care for our user base that has rapidly grown to over 30,000 businesses, we have been fielding questions from all over the place. I don’t just mean questions from the United States, India, and the Isle of Man, but questions such as “How do you differentiate yourselves from your competitors?” to “Are you a real person?” are asked all the time.

Here are some of the questions we get regularly, starting with arguably the most important question…

1) How is Mavenlink different from the competitors?

Mavenlink is an end to end project management solution. We are the only solution focused on providing robust project collaboration and project management features PLUS time tracking, expense tracking, invoicing, currency localization, and online payments to the small and mid-sized businesses.

Work and get paid in one place.

2) What financial features do you offer?

As mentioned above, we have time time tracking, expense tracking, and invoicing. These are all integrated with PayPal as well so you can pay and get paid all within Mavenlink. In fact, time tracking and invoicing are two of our most popular features.

3) Can I work in a currency other than US Dollars?

As mentioned above, we added currency localization. This allows you to work, track time, invoice, and get paid in every currency in the entire world. On top of that, it is fully integrated with all of the currencies that PayPal supports. What would a Project Management solution in the cloud be if you couldn’t work in every currency in the world?

4) How can I make feature requests?

We have been trying to promote our Feature Requests forum (hint: click that link ) as we love hearing from our users. If you are a Mavenlink user, follow the link and submit your requests there. We are always brainstorming new ideas and ways to improve, but just like us, you are using constantly using Mavenlink so we want to hear from you.

5) How can I test Mavenlink?

Open a Test Drive Project Workspace with us. The Test Drive will automatically invite some of the Mavenlink team to help get you started and answer any questions you may have.

6) Can I respond to messages via email?

Yes. This was one of our first features when we launched, but somehow our email integration has been overlooked. Reply to any message via email from your computer or smartphone.

7) Can I view important dates and tasks within Mavenlink?

With the new Mavenlink dashboard that we rolled out last month, it is now easier than ever to view past due work, upcoming work, pending invoices, and the latest messages from your project workspaces. Also, you can filter the view for any client, contractor, or employee.

Do you integrate with Google Apps?

Yes, we integrate with the full Google Apps suite. Along with your business Google Apps email or Gmail account, we are fully integrated with Google Docs, Google Calendar, and Google Contacts.

In addition, the Google Apps team announced the best of the Google Apps Marketplace in 2010 and we finished #5 out of the entire marketplace. This news was so big that PC World, TechCrunch, and ReadWriteWeb all picked up the story. Click here to see the Mavenlink Google Apps listing.

9) How much does it cost to integrate Mavenlink with Google Apps?

Nothing. How do you like that price? Not only do we make it extremely easy to integrate Mavenlink and Google Apps, but all Mavenlink plans have the full Google Apps integration included.

10) Can I submit a Guest Contribution?

Of course. Just email us at info@mavenlink.com. We are always looking for Guest Contributions. Whether you want to submit an original post about today’s working world or have us interview you or express how Mavenlink has helped your business, we are open to many types of contributions.