Women Entrepreneurs: Failure is Impossible
Women’s History Month Business Wisdom and Inspiration for Women Entrepreneurs and Businesswomen
As guests entered a well marketed business luncheon, they walked into a room of ethereal music of two harps, a colorful slide show of business women, pink roses on black linen tables, champagne in fluted glasses, and handouts adorned with a purple and yellow pin that said, “Failure is Impossible,” a quote by Susan B. Anthony. The atmosphere wasn’t that of a typical corporate affair, it was so much more.
As women entrepreneurs listened to wise words from two guest speakers they were inspired by a few poignant quotes. The first was, “A main characteristic of the successful women is her passion or drive to do something to change the world,” said Jill Tietjen, CEO of the National Women’s Hall of Fame. The second was, “Live collaboratively with other women in your good days and in times of challenge and growth in order to succeed,” said President Deborah Stanley of SUNY Oswego. Their words of wisdom pierced the air and settled in the spirits of the women in the room.
As a timeline of females who changed history by their actions including Lucretia Mott, a leading voice of the abolitionist and feminist movements, Juliette Gordon Low, the originator of the Girl Scouts and Madam C. J. Walker, an American entrepreneur and philanthropist, regarded as the first American female self-made millionaire, was displayed in this room full of modern business women, a spirit of fortitude cloaked the room.
The event concluded with two group photographs of the 90 women in attendance. The first was a typical, conservative image to be used in an upcoming business publication. The second one was different as the women in the photo pumped their hands and arms in the air the moment the photo was taken as a signal of “We can do it just like our foremothers” and a commitment to be the next generation of women making a difference for the women and girls to follow.
Today’s blog post is to remind you that March is “Women’s History Month” and you are here because of the actions, ideas and bravery of the women who came before you including our foremothers who spoke at the 1848 Woman’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, our mothers and grandmothers, our female teachers and women community leaders. We stand on their shoulders today because of “her-story.” What will you do today to ensure you are maintaining the same standard to help the generation of women and girls to follow us?
We all have big shoes to follow. I know for sure after yesterday’s special business luncheon at least 90 women in that room were inspired to carry on. Will you do your part and join us? Remember, “Failure is impossible.”
Create Your Own News
Business advice for women entrepreneurs and small businesses
You find news in black and white print, colored electronic visuals, and media voices. You hear it at the break of dawn over a cup of coffee, during your business day and as you watch the evening news. You might also find it in the middle of the night when you can’t sleep as you view your smart phone. News is everywhere all the time whether it’s snowing outside or during a humid 90 degree day. When you stop to think how much information has to be shared everyday it is startling.
This business week started off with a publicity bang when my company was featured in a large article in Syracuse.com called “Sunday Conversations” and our Women’s Athletic Network division featured Monday in a Central New York Business Journal article. Our blog increased its followers by 100 because we published a post about Patricia Arquette’s call for equal pay at the Oscars. The media did not come looking for these stories; we pushed out information which created them.
If you are a typical woman entrepreneur, you have a long task list in front of you this morning. Although you have industry related and client focused duties, do you have publicity tasks as one of them? If not, why not? Are other tasks more important or haven’t you made them a priority? Because of the incredible publicity we received this week, I must challenge you to add “conduct some publicity tasks” on your to-do-list today.
If you feel you simply don’t have time, I ask you to think about the monetary value of publicity of two articles that are seen in print, shared through social media and used to brand your name. It is more valuable than you can imagine. Publicity isn’t a onetime opportunity, it lives online forever. Sharing your news in press releases, contacting media and pushing out relevant stories, present the media with words, sound and images it must share every minute of the day.
Today’s blog post is to remind you that if you want to be recognized in print, on electronic media, through social media or even for awards, you must make publicity a priority on your task list. Start every day off by creating one opportunity to promote your business, services, products or even yourself through the social and traditional means that are available. If you need help writing, promoting or contacting media, ask for help or hire a firm. We have many in our directory.
Publicity begets publicity. The more you are featured, the more often you will be remembered to be featured again. Remember you have something to share with readers, listeners and viewers, just like the people you see in the media already. You are as news worthy as they are. Create your own news.
Oscar Business Moment – Change the World with Your Personal Mission
Business advice for women entrepreneurs and small business owners
I love moments that catch you off guard and move you quickly and deeply. As I watched the 2015 Oscars, I found myself on my feet the exact same moment as Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lopez when I heard the words from Patricia Arquette say, “To every woman who gave birth, to every taxpayer and citizen of this nation, we have fought for everybody else’s equal rights. It’s our time to have wage equality once and for all and equal rights for women in the United States of America!”
I glanced over my shoulder to see my husband and son look at me in bewilderment. They know I have been a feminist the past 20 years helping to make women entrepreneurs more financially successful by preaching about the importance of women buying from women first and foremost until women earn the same as men. I think jumping up so quickly and applauding so loudly in the private living room startled them.
Everyone has a personal mission statement. Whether it’s Patricia Arquette talking about equal pay for women, John Legend speaking about continuing the fight for race equality or Dana Perry speaking about suicide awareness, we all have something we want to change in this world. As women entrepreneurs we have the ability to use a marketing platform to share our expertise to help others and to also preach about a cause that affects our industry. We must not be shy about sharing what we believe in.
The most important thing you can do for yourself and the world today is to say, “What is it that I want to change in this world? What injustice needs support fighting? What movement can I begin? How can I help?” We are given one life. The question is what will we do with it to impact not only our life but the life of others?
You begin by discovering your own personal mission statement, speaking about it, moving people and making a difference just like the Oscar winners and so many other passionate people do every day. Change the world. You can.
Cold Winter Business Inspiration for Entrepreneurs
Business advice for entrepreneurs
Far below the mounds of the frozen white tundra is grass ready to grow. Although it’s buried deep, deep, deeper than we’d like to imagine, it is there ready to spring into life. Wishing away the frozen mounds of precipitation just won’t do it, it will take Mother Nature or our own muscle to remove it. The quote, “Where there is a will, there is a way” came to mind this weekend after my husband created a basketball court out of hip deep snow in front of my son’s prized basketball hoop giving him the ability to play hoops in the cold. I joined him in celebration.
As business owners we can look outside and only see white for miles and feel negative temperatures; just like we can see our same old business model and marketing outreach stagnating. I challenge you to think what is below the surface of your business ready to bud (like the grass below the snow) or to construct a new way to do the things you love to do (like building a basketball court out of snow). Do we allow outside elements to stop us or do we stop ourselves? Do we live with a million excuses or are we positively preparing for what we want?
It is so easy to freeze, to stop being creative, to stop trying to bring in the big bucks when everything around us seems buried. It is actually the perfect time to be creating, working, envisioning, and producing to bring us success through this slow time of year. We must do what we don’t want to do and work harder than others. The advantage of being an entrepreneur in the dead of winter is in the stillness of business activity and the time it allows us for planning.
Today’s blog post is to encourage entrepreneurs to ignore the below zero temperatures, the slowing customer calls, the same old patterns of bringing in revenue, and catapult your attitude, vision and work habits into digging out from the white and cold into prosperity. Network more. Pick up the phone and call customers to thank them for their business. Nominate someone for an award. Hire someone new to work for you. Create a new marketing strategy. Redesign your office. Educate yourself. Celebrate the small successes of everyday business. Don’t get entrenched, buried and motionless in this cold winter that you stop being the best business owner you can be.
You know that green is around the corner, springing up, ready to burst into life. Will your business be ready to capture the green in the marketplace because you took time during the winter to prepare for it?
Women Putting a Crack in the Ceiling for Future President’s Days
Business advice and wisdom for women
As this brilliant, blue cloudless sky greets me on President’s Day 2015, I flash to two memories – one recent, one six years ago and one from 1978.
The recent memory was from last night’s Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Celebration as the show highlighted a comedic sketch of Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sarah Palin together at a podium vying for political attention and votes.
The second image was from 1978 and the all-female slate my 3 female friends and I put together to run for our 9th grade class office. I ran for President. My friends and I were running against two all-boy slates. We thought we were pretty progressive at the time – and I think we were – although we lost to one of them.
The final image brought me to my third memory of Hillary Clinton’s speech about creating 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling after she lost the 2008 democratic run for presidency. She said in that speech, “And the light is shining through like never before, filling us with the hope and the sure knowledge that the path will be a little easier next time.”
I wonder how long it will be until President’s Day has a female image to grace the calendars, commercials and history books. It might not be too far away at the rate America is moving. Since 2008, I have witnessed more female politicians making those cracks in the ceiling and propelling themselves and women with them.
A perfect example of this success is New York State Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul who won the 2014 election and will be at a special event on March 8th in Saratoga Springs. We will both be at One Woman. One World, being produced by two women entrepreneurs who bring women together from all over the state each year to celebrate this century-old holiday celebrated globally to mark the economic, political and social accomplishments of women. Women gather to acknowledge both their progress and their challenges.
I hope today’s blog post reminds you to keep the vision of a female president in your mind, heart and spirit as you go about your business dealings and personal life. Women of today have an opportunity to lift up and support female candidates and politicians. Could your daughter, granddaughter or great granddaughter be the next President because of the cracks you are making today in the glass ceiling? Could her face be the face that’s celebrated on President’s Day?
I encourage you to learn more about the One Woman. One World Event and come meet me and New York State’s new Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul. You can find out more information or make reservations at http://nycelebrateswomen.com. Come make a new crack in the ceiling with us.
Valentine’s Day Business Advice: Express Love for Your Customers
Business advice for women entrepreneurs and small business owners
With Valentine’s Day approaching, I wanted to make sure women entrepreneurs remembered to share their expression of “love” with their clients and customers.
By the middle of the 18th century, Valentine’s Day was a customary day for friends and lovers of all social classes to exchange small tokens of affection or handwritten notes. Handwritten notes and sentimental thoughts were converted over time to a billion dollar industry. According to today’s statistics, Valentine’s Day has become the second largest card sending holiday with an estimated 2.6 billion cards sent.
As I review these statistics, I wonder how a simple idea like creating Valentine’s Day cards could translate over time to a billion dollar industry. Is love what really fuels business success?
It’s hard to be innovative in a world of a billion business success stories. I’m sure most women entrepreneurs wish they were creating the next best concept to launch them into the ultimate success stratosphere. But original ideas are hard to come by. If you just figure we are living in the 21st century and it took 3 centuries for the Valentine’s Day card industry to become a billion dollar enterprise, you’ll see how challenging it can be for an idea to really take hold.
So the lesson today isn’t so much about what it takes to create the next best ground-breaking concept because honestly the fruition time for success could outlast an entrepreneur’s lifetime. The lesson is about love. Yes, love.
People love to know other people care. Customers in particular love to know their vendors care about them. In the automated, super technical world we live in, a simple gesture of affection – a card, a flower, a gift, a thank you note can have more impact on your current customer base than a new splashy ad campaign can do to attract new clients. Business is about love isn’t it?
Today’s post is meant to have you stop and think about the most important people who make your business successful. Who are they – vendors, partners, sponsors, advisors or friends? Have you taken time lately to tell them they matter? Can you find 30 minutes this week to send a few handwritten “love letters,” like they use to pen in the 18th century, to a few really important people connected with your business?
I think you’ll find as corny as it sounds, displaying love and affection in your entrepreneurial life will reap you a billion seconds of clients remembering who you are.
Developing Better Negotiating Skills in Business
Business advice for women entrepreneurs and small businesses
A few days ago I was with one of my long time Five Star Event female clients who is an expert at negotiating contracts. The key to getting what she wants is her ability to be non-emotional, frank and unwavering in her request. She doesn’t take no for an answer. She works hard to seal the deal. She is motivated exclusively by her bottom line. In the end, she might not be the most pleasant person to do business with (unless you love compromise), but she gets what she asks for and her operation is financially successful.
I’ve learned what makes her so good at getting the best deal for her company is her forthright negotiating skills. She has no problem putting what she wants on the table or walking away from a deal if her expectations are not met. Most women entrepreneurs don’t operate this way but there could be a lesson to learn from her approach.
If it’s been a while since you reviewed your own negotiating skills, take an inventory of how you make deals with clients, vendors and associates. This year every contract is important, so make sure your negotiating skills are up to par. If they aren’t, educate or train yourself on improving them. Remember there is nothing wrong in asking for what you need. It’s vital to keeping your business strong and successful.
If you are a woman entrepreneur and need some support in this area, consider these options:
* Tune up your skills by reading some articles on negotiating, for example http://www.wikihow.com/Negotiate
* Read Sheryl Sandberg’s book “Lean In” to gain some great motivation!
* Ask some of the women you admire most who are great negotiators to lend some advice.
* Practice negotiating with a friend, family member or associate before your next big meeting or contract appointment. Get honest feedback and work on perfecting it before it really occurs.
* Review your financial numbers and be empowered to improve your bottom line by improving your negotiation skills the next time you are trying to land new business or working with increasing your benefits with an existing customer.
It is up to us as women entrepreneurs to make the deals we need to survive and thrive in business. Go seal that big deal today!
In the Dead of Winter, Color Your World Women Entrepreneurs
Business inspiration and advice for women entrepreneurs
The yellow worn out inspirational book I have read every day for the past 10 years had this title for today’s reading, “Fill Your World with Color and Beauty.” It seems like my Facebook friends who are vacationing in Florida or living in California definitely have color and beauty surrounding them. Maybe we don’t feel the same when we look out at more white snow blanketing all that is green and colorful.
If you look beyond the six foot snow banks, frozen ponds, steel blue skies into your own entrepreneurial life, you will find color and beauty. You probably see the green of revenue growing in your bank account, feel the warmth of the color red when you shake a loyal vendors hand or see yellow in the glowing testimonies of your customers. Business life is colorful or we wouldn’t be living it so passionately.
It’s easy to focus on the beige drudgery of filling in our tax books, viewing the long white lists of cold calls to be made or discovering grey matter in our brains when we need to find creativity. The choice to be made in any moment as women entrepreneurs is whether we focus on the grind or the glory of life. Mid-February can test our souls and yet every day provides us the opportunity to grab the golden handle and open up new economic doors to fill our businesses with light.
Today’s blog post is to help you see today as not another cold winter day where life and business drags on; but rather a brilliant colorful, beautiful day filled with possibility. Why not start your morning off by reaching out to media to gain some PR, calling a favorite customer, pitching yourself as a speaker, scheduling lunch with a favorite person, signing up for one of our great events, learning something new online so you charge up your morning with beautiful color. If you are out today, buy a lottery ticket, buy yourself pink tulips and treat yourself to something you’ve wanted. Bring the beauty back into your life if all you see and feel is white.
Soon….very soon….the green of spring will encompass your life and you will feel good just looking out your windows. Realize you have all you need today to feel that way inside your heart and office walls. Embrace color and beauty today and give yourself the pick-up you need to be happy and prosperous.
Trust Your Shifting Business
Business advice for women entrepreneurs and small businesses
If you live in the Northeast, you know no one could have planned for such a snowy winter – not the weather station, not the Groundhog, not the Weather Channel’s 24 hour super forecasting service. Sometimes you can’t plan or estimate what will occur in the weather, life or business.
Even on the smoothest journeys, things occur and throw us off the even path. Life shifts and our perception shifts too. If you’ve been in business as long as I have, you know business shifts. One year your niche market is brand new and five years later it’s a mainstay of the economy flooded with competitors or new innovation makes your product obsolete. As the leader of an enterprise, your drive changes too. It’s impossible to maintain the same emotion, determination and attitude as business factors shift.
If you are in the middle of a swing and you’re feeling uncomfortable with your status as a woman entrepreneur due to the economy, your personal perceptions, or fundamental corporate factors you need to stay relevant, realize every shift can cause doors to open and doors to close, and relationships to end and new relationship to sprout. Only in time, looking back will you understand the importance of the changes.
So remember today, the answer to any shift is too keep your heart, eyes and ears open. You might be at a turning point when being as open as you can to new occurrences, expectations and insights can make major advances for you personally and professionally. Even though you don’t have what is happening right now, soon you’ll see why you needed to shift and what new vistas, experiences and people you were suppose to greet. Life is good. Keep trusting it will be good for you and your entrepreneurial journey.
“We are called to mediate from time to time on the essential truths of our lives.”
Inspiration for Women Entrepreneurs: What is Your Legacy?
Business and entrepreneurial advice for women entrepreneurs
Although everyone this week is talking about Sunday’s Super Bowl images, whether they were funny commercials, game winning catches or Katy Perry’s half time performance, I have focused on 3 images that graced my Women TIES Facebook feed. The photos along with their simple printed messages spoke to my core.
The first image is a photograph of a teenage granddaughter of Deborah Allison, one of our Ithaca members, holding a sign that reads “Women’s Equality Act.” The photo was entitled “Women’s Rights Activist in the Making.” The second photograph was taken by my sister of her daughter Lauren wearing a snow mobile helmet with the quote by Shakespeare that said, “And though she was little, she was fierce.” The final image was about Title IX and it read, “Between the Passage of Title IX in 1972, and 2013, the number of girls competing in high school sports rose by 2.9 million.” Every image reminds me that women have an obligation to other women, especially to the generation of young women following us. We must fight for equality in life, sports and business.
If you were asked, “What is the one thing you stand for that others know for certainty is true about you?” What is the answer? Your personal mission statement might be something based purely on your personal life or a community cause or your business purpose. Do you know what it is? Do others know what it is? Has it matured over the years or is it just blossoming? Is it something you think of every single day?
I know mine. I’ve known it for a very long time. I remember it every time I see images like the ones on my Facebook feed or when I hear women still earn less than men after years of striving for pay equality. My heart pounds when I think of the Syracuse Dome not filled to capacity for the women’s basketball or lacrosse teams and the fact that no one charges parking fees and only charges $5 admission tickets for the women’s games. What personally motivates me is the half empty dome for the women’s teams, the lack of money in women’s bank accounts and the young girls who have to follow us and our legacy to them.
Today’s blog post is truly meant to stir your own heart and vision. What in this world do you want to change with your life because life is too short to not have a strong purpose? One person can make a world of difference in the lives of others if they figure out their personal mission, embrace it and resolve to live it to the fullest. I ask you once again, “What stirs your heart, what injustice do you want to solve or who do you want to help today and in the future?”
Let images guide you. Let headlines in the media stir you. Let your heart pound for what you know you are meant to do. We have one life to live – one very precious life to live – live it better by knowing what counts in your life and especially how you can help others at the same time.
Women TIES 