Great Business Lessons Shared – Part One
Five years gives you a good deal of perspective on what can go right and what can go wrong when you are a woman entrepreneur! What I know for sure is that women love sharing, hearing and learning lessons from other businesswomen – the good, the bad and the ugly. They also like rejoicing in the highlights and wins. So over the next couple weeks I will share some great lessons learned, challenging lessons we survived, and top best business highlights. I hope you’ll check back frequently to review the lesson and the highlights which have challenged, taught, inspired and raised me above any turmoil to continue to live this dream. My struggles and successes are similar to women entrepreneurs everywhere. My goal is for you to find insight and wisdom to help you today and in the future.
Great Lesson Number #1: Success Comes at the Three Year Mark – It’s True!
When I attended my first networking event as an entrepreneur in 1995, a woman stood up and told us the statistics were right – she was finally successful after running her business for three years. I remember thinking three years was a long time to wait for success. But in fact both of my businesses took three years to be financially successful and known in the community. I thought success would come sooner with the second business because I was an experienced entrepreneur and already known in the community for promoting women entrepreneurship. But the statistic held true! Most women I know have the same experience. So if you are just beginning your business or are in the second year, keep going, keep working, don’t give up the faith.
Great Lesson #2: Invest in Your Business – It Takes Money!
Women are known for not taking as many financial risks as men when it comes to starting and growing a business. This isn’t always a bad thing because most women owned businesses survive the start-up years more than male owned businesses. Our conservative thinking is a blessing and a curse at times.
At some point we have to invest money in our companies if they are going to grow. How much you invest depends on a lot of factors. Your accountant, business advisor and financial planner can assist you with making the monetary amount. But if you don’t take some calculated financial risks to invest and grow, you won’t. Eventually you will be spending time at your “hobby” instead of growing a solid, financial company to sell someday.
Fifth Year Business Anniversary Lessons
Five years ago today – March 3, 2005 – I nervously walked up to a podium at the Room Full of Sisters event turned around and faced an audience of 300 women waiting to hear my announcement. Even though I was an experienced public speaker, I was nervous. Scanning the crowd I saw my good friend Gwen Webber-McLeod and my new friend Cynthia Aikman beaming from the audience. They knew what I was going to say. “Hi, I’m Tracy Higginbotham, the proud owner of Women TIES! Three hours ago, I signed the paperwork to begin this company with the hopes of creating a regional marketplace for women entrepreneurs around the state because I believe in the buying power of women.” Thunderous applause and smiling faces greeted the news and washed over me. Acceptance, energy and validation flooded through my veins. I knew this was going to be something!
Today is Women TIES 5th Anniversary! The road has been both a long and joyous one. After first starting this venture, I was stunned to face critics and skeptics in the business community who doubted my motives. I had to perfect and sell this “unique” regional organization to people who didn’t understand it. I had to plan events hoping and praying women would come. Through it all, my passion for creating a larger regional, and eventually state-wide, organization lead me past the critics, apprehension and uncertainties. Through it all, it was you and all the women I came in contact with who deepened my commitment and resolve to make this company successful.
Motivation came from the phone calls of members telling me they were securing new regional business; seeing women “live the mission” by getting on the road and traveling to other cities to open up their marketplace; and women who were collaborating together on new projects, events and products. Every person along this five year journey has energized me to do more.
Today’s blog is to thank all the women who have crossed my path the past five years as an event attendee, member or weekly reader of my popular Wednesday Wisdom enewsletter. I love being inspired and for five years you have inspired me to do all I can to make this world a better place for women entrepreneurs. I have always said that at the end of my life what will matter most to me is how many lives I have touched in a positive way, how many women entrepreneurs I have helped and the ripple effects of that assistance, and living a life full of purpose and passion.
I encourage you today to celebrate your own entrepreneurial spirit. You are living a wonderful life. Love what you are doing for yourself, your customers, and the greater business community. Thank you for allowing me to inspire, educate and promote your business for five years. There’s so much more to come! Stay involved and together we can make a significant impact on the success of women entrepreneurs everywhere!
Personal Scarifices As An Entrepreneur
Recently a woman entrepreneur asked me, “I am finding myself working more hours and cutting back more personal time to keep my business afloat during this recession. What are some suggestions for keeping my life in balance until the economy rebounds?” I thought my answer to her question would be perfect for today’s blog since so many women entrepreneurs I know are struggling to put in extra hours to keep their businesses going during this extended economic hardtime.
I have always been a firm believer in balancing my personal and work life even at the height of extremely demanding business periods. Entrepreneurship can be an addictive 24 hour, 7 day a week, 365 day a year commitment. A business owner’s drive and tenacity makes them excel at work but it can also deplete vital personal time and energy. Understanding what makes you a healthy and happy individual in your personal life can sustain you during stressful business periods. Prioritize the essential elements you need in your private life – whether it’s running or yoga, attending social events or family gatherings – and absolutely schedule them into your weekly calendar.
There are also times in an entrepreneur’s life when personal family situations, like a death in the family, a major health scare, a spouse’s unemployment, needing extra money to send a son to college, puts pressure on the entrepreneur. These personal situations can drain our energy, force us to take time away from work, makes us lose our concentration, and can put a strain on us to sell more. It is essential, we know when we need to slow down, seek help from the outside to stay afloat, or take time away from our businesses to survive any dark personal or business period.
In the end, work will always be there, there will be new clients, and our businesses will continue to flourish, but we have to be sharp, rested and relaxed to be the best business person you can be. Don’t underestimate the value of replenishing your mind, body and spirit in helping you make it through any tough times.
Loving to Sell
I know from my experience that I didn’t inherit his selling gene. I can’t knock on doors every day trying to land new clients. But I do believe, like my father did in the product that I sell – which is Women TIES – an amazing organization of women who believe in the buying power of women. So anytime I have an opportunity to learn more about sales I do. I know it is essential for my success. Women entrepreneurs need to learn more about sales so we can gain a better perspective, knowledge and wisdom on selling so we can be more confident in the process, follow-up and potential to really grow our businesses. If we don’t sell, we can’t grow. We can’t move forward. We must do it. We must know how to do it. We must learn to embrace and love it. As my father said, “We got to go get them!”
Strategy
In a recent Syracuse Post Standard article the headline read, “Hungry to end slump, BK teams with Starbucks.” The article discussed how the nation’s number two burger chain will add Starbucks Corporation’s Seattle’s Best Coffee to all its United States restaurants in hopes of boosting its slumping business. Their strategy is to deliver a better cup of coffee in order to enhance their breakfast business.
Besides admiring the fact that two giant brand companies are willing to collaborate with each other to increase market share and revenue, I also like the fact that strategy was a key motivation in this decision. Sometimes when women entrepreneurs have been in business for awhile, we forget our core strategy, we become less strategic as we are consumed with managing details or we ignore the fact we need to be more calculated about certain business decisions as we grow our companies. We rest on our laurels sometimes for too long before something ignites a fire and gets us thinking about innovative ways to improve our companies. It might be a new competitor, a changing economy or slumping sales that finally forced us to analyze our positioning, placement and purpose in the market.
Strategy is defined as a carefully devised plan of action to achieve a goal, or the art of developing or carrying out such a plan. How strategic have you been with your business lately? Do you have a devised plan of action, a list of achievable goals, and the drive to carry out the plan? If not, mid-winter is the perfect time to develop one. February tends to be a month when the Central New York business climate is still quiet which allows for contemplation about strategic plans, observations about potential business partnerships and implementation of new ideas.
Today’s blog is to remind you now is the perfect time to start strategizing for your future. Turn a quiet business period into a fruitful one by forming new action plans, meeting with potential strategic partners and creating a year long strategic map to guide your company towards more success.
If you need some extra incentive, stop by Burger King and grab a new Starbucks coffee and ponder how two large corporations came together to form a strategic alliance that will intentionally make their companies stronger by the end of the year.
Getting Organized
If you are a woman entrepreneur and you need some inspiration today to clear out your mind, get organized and become more productive, take a few minutes to read our simple success strategies on starting clean. It might be just what you need to gain a fresh perspective on overwhelming projects and tasks facing you.
Don’t Start Your Day Off With Details
Take advantage of the clarity that a new day holds. After a well rested night of sleep, our minds are open for big, broad thinking. Don’t open your emails or return phone calls first thing in the morning if you need some extra time to get organized. As soon as we get involved with the tiny details of the day, we lose the abundance of clear thinking to help us with bigger plans or major projects. Take the first hour of a day this week to get organized – keep the computer and phone off and give yourself time to stay fresh and organized until you have things under control.
Take Out Your Calendar
After an hour of clear thinking, pull out your calendar and put some dates and timelines to your projects, tasks or jobs. Keeping responsibilities in our mind without starting or ending dates can make us feel more overwhelmed. By writing down tasks and assigning them dates, you’ll have a greater sense of control in accomplishing them. A sense of control creates calm in our minds which is an important part of accomplishing a lot of work.
Work Effectively and Relax
Once you start working, remember to take important breaks during the day to re-energize your thinking. We have a limited amount of mental fuel. It needs replenishing periodically. Pushing straight through the day without lunch, coffee breaks, some music, some personal phone calls or maybe even exercise, can put us back at square one feeling overwhelmed and stressed. Pace yourself and make sure you add some well deserved perks into your business day. You’ll feel well balanced at the end of the day if you do.
Start Clean
Every day we arrive at our office with a pile of responsibilities, plans and projects waiting for us. Some days we leave the office with nicely stacked mountains of work to tackle the next day. Some days we leave our desks with an unruly heap of paperwork screaming for attention. Sometimes the organization, or disorganization, on our desks represents how we feel inside.
When the overwhelming amount of work, client problems or stress gets too much to bear, we have to start clean. We may need to take a day off working on client projects to simply get things in order – using the day to physically and mentally straighten the piles. Instead of thinking of the day as a loss of revenue, consider it a day of gain.
Many times as an event planner when my clients and I are in the middle of putting together a complex event and the details become overwhelming, we have to back up to the beginning, start with the clean slate and envision the original mission, in order to move forward more effectively. Similarly in entrepreneurship, when we get in the middle of a complex period of work and we feel as stressed, we need to back up, regain our composure, remember our mission and re-create a sense of organization.
Today’s message is to remind you that every day offers you a chance to create a clean slate, especially if you are in an overwhelming period of work or life. The hardest part is recognizing the need to freshen up your mental outlook so you can be more efficient and successful in the near future. Every day is a blessing both personally and professionally. I encourage you to stop feeling overwhelmed and to make an appointment with yourself to step back, clear off the clutter, regain your focus and create a new clean, fresh outlook regarding the work ahead of you.
Money Matters – Selling and Investing
Success Strategies on Risk Taking
If you need alittle inspiration to help you take some risks today or in the near future, take a few minutes to read today’s three success strategies. They might be exactly what you need to finally make the decision you’ve been wanting to make for awhile.
How Long Has it Been? Sometimes the action that finally gets us to take risks and get off the mountain is stopping to realize how long we’ve been stuck at the top. Have you been thinking about a business decision for a week, a month, a year? The longer you’re frozen in indecision, the harder it gets to take action. If you’ve been contemplating a big change for more than three months, you may need extra support to take the plunge. Seek counsel from a business advisor, financial consultant, therapist, business coach or trusted colleague with whom you can discuss your apprehension and plans so you can either move forward or put the decision to rest.
How Well Are Others Things Going In Your Life? Entrepreneurship takes a lot of mental energy, willpower and determination. As much as we want to separate our personal lives from our business lives, we can’t. They are intertwined. Personal situations, illnesses, loss, and change can take a toll on our mental outlook. Sometimes taking risks confidently means our personal lives are stable enough for us to be unsettled with new business developments. If you are going through a difficult or transient time in your personal life, taking a large business plunge right now might not be the time. Consider all factors – personal and business – before making any big decisions.
Do You Have Support Systems in Place? If you feel you have been at the precipice of a decision for awhile and you feel your personal and business lives are stable enough then make sure you have support with your upcoming plans with a strong support system in place. Support systems could mean gaining extra financing, adding extra staff, renting more office space, moving to a better location, and seeking extra legal or accounting counsel. Get everything lined up so you are ready. As we glide down the mountain towards the finish line, we need to have all the resources and tools we need to sustain us.
Letting Go and Going For the Gold
Ever feel like you are standing on the summit of a mountain looking down and wondering if you have the guts to let go and give it all you got. Your heart is racing, your eyes wide open and electric energy pulsing through your veins. How many times have you played it safe in business? How often have you been afraid to tackle the steep slope and stayed perched on top of it waiting for another day to make the decision to go? Has it been days, months or years you’ve been hanging out at the top of the mountain waiting to take a big risk, a really big risk. Half the time it’s not the view from the top, or the steepness of the slope that scares us, it’s the ride waiting for us. You know it will be exhilarating, terrifying, and energizing all wrapped up in one. But if we don’t take big risks sometimes, we’ll get stuck on the mountain top. We’ll be able to see all the people hiking their way down, skiing in the powder or sliding on their backs and envy them.
Sometimes women entrepreneurs have to move. We have to let go. We have to get out of the place we’ve been stuck in for so long. The grey winter skies, the current economic conditions, people in our past, things we have always believed, can’t stop us anymore.
If you need some inspiration this upcoming week, make sure you turn on the Olympics and cheer for Mohawk Valley Women TIES entrepreneur Carol Hamlin Buczek’s, Owner of Tours By Design, neice Erin Hamlin a luger positioned to take home an Olympic medal! If she can take on the icy twists and turns at Vancover with a formidable spirit and determination, we can tackle our own gutsy runs.
Today remind yourself that we have to get off the mountain we’ve been standing on for so long so we can achieve the success we crave. It is our decision. It is in us. You know where to find it. It’s time to set it in motion and let go. If you need some extra inspiration to get you moving, watch Erin and cheer for her. She represents brave, bold women willing to leave the mountain top to get the gold. All of us can join her on the ride and at the medal stand!
Women TIES 