Weekend Vibes Entrepreneurs: Drum Up Your Marketing
Friday Feeling, Marketing Advice, Dave Matthews Band, Van Chamberlain, Women Entrepreneurs
On a small stage in a darkened corner of a room, up-and-coming bands perform to small audiences of listeners hoping to make them fans. Even popular bands like the Dave Matthews Band, started on small stages in Charlottesville, Virginia in the early 1990s performing to handfuls of interested musical fans. Everything begins somewhere typically without loads of fanfare, trumpets, and media coverage.
The most asked question I hear from woman-owned start up companies is, “How long will it take to make enough money to support my endeavor and turn away business?” My answer is always three years if you are extensively marketing your business. This was true for my first and second companies and seen over the years I’ve supported hundreds of other woman-owned businesses. It’s no different for start-up musicians.
So, when my brothers’ band “Van Chamberlain” launched their sound in 2021 performing in New York City bars, my two sons with their girlfriends attended their shows and brought along friends. Buying their white t-shirts and giving them away to others, along with purchasing their new downloadable album, helps to share and promote their early beginnings in the professional music industry.
As a 30-year event planner, and their oldest sister, I offered to help them find some venues in the City of Syracuse to perform in to help their marketing efforts. It takes a lot of time, energy, soul, and repeat efforts to land a large following. It doesn’t matter if you are a band, female-owned business, pottery maker, or new owner of a restaurant, it takes time and again, a lot of marketing – traditional, social media, press coverage, and more. The beat goes on and on.
Today’s Friday Feeling blog post is to remind you that anything you start doing – a musical career, side business, or even a TikTok account takes more time than you think and more advertising and promotion than you imagine; but it is doable if you have the talent, passion, and connections to start and keep going. I hope today, you take a listen to Van Chamberlain and if you like it support their new downloadable tune “In The Sun” or album and give them some likes and shares. Here is more information on them via a recent online article.
One small act can lead to the next big break for anyone pursuing their passion as a career.
More Information:
Van Chamberlain are a Brooklyn-based indie rock band. Having grown up making music together on a shared wavelength, brothers Van & Jacob began playing under the name Van Chamberlain in 2019. They make music that combines dream pop and jangle, with a slight 90’s alternative influence showing through. They’ve each played and toured the world in bands including Phantom Buffalo (Rough Trade Records, Time Lag) and Eternal Drag (members of The Dodos). In 2019 they found themselves reunited in Brooklyn, and immediately began crafting their new record, In the Sun.
The band released their first studio-demo, “LY,” in 2020, right on the cusp of the global pandemic. Having to cancel their live debut, they instead turned to the recording studio. Their first LP, In the Sun, was finished in 2021. By the end of that year Van Chamberlain signed with Very Jazzed with a release scheduled for April 8, 2022.
In the Sun is an album about layers, both sonically and philosophically. Driven by textures of guitars, lush reverb, and grounded by infectious percussion, In the Sun offers sonic choices that feel new and undiscovered every time you put the record on. While Van’s laid-back vocal style offers the disposition of a sunny day with little to do, his lyrics draw from personal experiences of loss and subsequent growth. Their layered sonic approach reaffirms the band’s philosophical message: that what’s past is prologue, and the future holds promise, but neither will count unless you make peace with the present.
Ode to Ukraine Women: Supporting Women on the Battlefield
Thursday Thoughts for Women in Ukraine, Women Supporting Women
As I covered my bald head with my camo hunting hat my mother-in-law bought me as a gift since I was hunting for the first time with her only son, she thanked me for going with him to ensure he didn’t have to go alone opening day. All his hunting buddies couldn’t go and he was used to sharing the much-anticipated start of the season with someone. Since I surprised him by taking a 10-week online hunting course so I could experience his favorite pastime, and then shot at a gun range, we both felt I was ready to go dressed in my camo and blaze orange.
So, when I heard the news report yesterday that Ukraine women, who left their homeland to obtain safety in nearby Poland, were returning to fight against Russian forces alongside their husbands, sons, and fathers, it moved me because that is what I would do; and not because I have good aim or fearless thinking about war, but because I wouldn’t leave my men, country, or freedom without fighting for it. Believe me, I have not been, and continue not to be, a woman who loves guns, fighting or the idea of killing anything, but put in the same situation as these women, my mind would change.
All I could do on my long bike ride, with my camo hat on, (view my verbal message on my TikTok account) which probably seemed bizarre to those use to to seeing me in bright pink hats representing women, was think about the decision these Ukraine women are facing, ultimately making, and will be challenged with soon. Combined with watching last night’s Hamilton the Musical in Syracuse, where the first act is about Hamilton, Jefferson, Washington, and other forefathers, literally fighting for our country to be free from Britain in the 1700s, I understood even better why these women want to fight for their country’s freedom.
Sometimes walking in someone else’s hunting boots or listening to the words of a play created around historic moments, gives you insight you might not otherwise gain unless you put yourself in someone else’s place. My simple wish for these women fighting on the front lines, neighborhoods, and once children’s playgrounds, is for their protection and ultimate success in fighting and winning. We don’t need camo hunting hats to stand in solidarity with these women, but prayers, love, and support in some form help. I especially hope you join me in asking for their protection from above.
Women need to support women no matter where they are – in the boardroom or battlefield.
Wednesday Wisdom: Line Up Your Supporters
https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-e3sy9-11d42bd
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have super fans of ours and our company lined up down the hall on the way to the water cooler to give us a boost? Today’s podcast illuminates a way you can do that.
In entrepreneurial and feminist spirit,
Tracy Chamberlain Higginbotham, Women TIES
Wednesday Wisdom: Line Up Your Supporters
Wednesday Wisdom, Inspiration for Women Entrepreneurs, Female Business Owners, Small Business
Around Mile 15, a boy was holding up a sign that said, “Do you need a hug? If so, I’d love to give you one,” which I took him up on. At Mile 17, a young girl held out her hand with an orange in it hoping it would get me enough natural sugar to propel me, so I graciously accepted it. Then at Mile 22, someone shouted “Tracy!” and there was Women TIES member Jill Bates, who traveled to Boston to give me that last hug I needed to complete the 26.2-mile run. After crossing the finish line, my husband and son propped me up. When people line the streets in Boston every Patriot’s Day in April, it is to cheer on, help, love, and support strangers. I heard it’s the best city to run a marathon in for this exact reason.
How wonderful a normal business day would be if strangers lined our corporate corridor high-fiving us every time we needed to walk to the water cooler. Would a typical, long work day become an instant pleasure? Would we be even more grateful for the people that physically showed up to support us? Even if we can’t physically see customers or even strangers who might be super fans as they watch our actions and successes, they are there just not as visible as the Boston community lining up annually on Boylston Street.
So how can you draw from the energy of people who love what you do for a living? I think it boils down to a couple opportunities. The first is seeking for, posting, and reviewing testimonials from past or current customers. The people who truly appreciate your work already told you or are happy to share it with you for use to promote your company (or just to make you feel good). Second, paying attention to likes, positive comments, and appreciation shown on social media can not only boost your mood momentarily, but show the public you are a special business woman. Share those posts giving thanks to the contributor. Love is reciprocal.
Today’s Wednesday Wisdom, as Spring brings more light to our lives, consider ways you can boost your own spirits or glowing comments on your company. Do you have past testimonials you haven’t read in a while? Could you post them to social media or your website? Do you have a stack of Thank You cards you collect with sweet sentiments in them and re-read them for a boost? Can you go back on Facebook to your birthday to read kind thoughts from friends and strangers?
If we need an emotional boost and can’t find Bostonians to line up and physically give us a high-five, then it is up to us to look for those beaming accolades of praise, soak them in, and remember our worth.
Monday Motivation: Hope. Springs. Eternal.
Monday Motivation for Women Entrepreneurs, Women in Sports, Female Business Owners
As a flush of blood rose to my cheeks as I cycled down a long hill on a 40-degree day, the saying “Hope springs eternal” came to mind. Whether it was the warmth of a new day, compared to the howling winter cold of yesterday, or the fact spring arrives in six days on the calendar, or if it was just the endorphins releasing themselves as I coasted fast down the mount avoiding mini-ice bumps in the path so as not to tumble off.
However the feelings arose, I was grateful for once again, making fitness an essential element of my everyday life. Now committed to trying every single sport once in my lifetime, I’m like an energetic child planning athletic events for myself, my family and a group of women entrepreneurs who want to come along for the ride. Checking out a flying trapeze event for April, parasailing locations for June, curling lessons in October, and getting ready for a 20-mile Erie Canal ride with a woman who asked me to join her in June, I’m pumped up higher than my normal Italian energy and that’s saying a lot.
It is if I’m holding back on this big new dream when I’m already set to go! Have you ever felt that way? Maybe just before a long-awaited vacation, the wedding of a son or daughter, anticipation of a highly visual speaking gig, or an awards ceremony, you felt the way I feel right now. So, what can we do in the meantime, to hold back our dreams a few days or months longer?
Funny thing, when I googled for some answers, the only articles I could find were ways to stay motivated, as if most people lack the energy to achieve their dreams, nothing spoke to calming down before your heart bursts because you really want to accomplish your goals! So, since I couldn’t find anything out on my subject, I wanted to share some expert tips on ways to motivate yourself, if my energy is not enough to get you going:
1. Find A Good Reason for Your Goal
2. Make it Fun
3. Change Your Approach and Don’t Give UP
4. Recognize Your Progress
5. Reward Yourself
This Monday Motivation blog post is to inspire you to either join me on some of my sporting adventures this year or making some big goals for yourself and using the suggestions above to help you do it. I am always available to pump you up if you need moral support. Remember, “Hope Springs Eternal” when you have a goal in mind and go for it every day.
Wednesday Wisdom: Women Must Change the World for Women
Wednesday Wisdom, Inspiration for Women Entrepreneurs, Female Business Owners
It was hard to top my high pink energy level, especially on a day like International Women’s Day, when we are asked to “imagine a gender equal world that is free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination and encourages women to work together to forge women’s equality.” But, dressed in bright pink garb, after hosting 25 women at a breakfast event in Rochester, I set out on my bike once I got back to Syracuse.
Biking with my iPods in, I saw a man waving to me to get off my bike. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, only that he had something important to tell me. So, I stopped my ride, to see what he wanted. If you know me, I might have been grumbling a bit under my breath wondering why a “dude” was disrupting my bright pink mood. He said, “Look, do you see it?” As I looked out over the bike trail on a higher part of the hill, I only saw trees until he said, “It’s a bald eagle!”
“Wow,” I said continuing, “I wonder if we could attach a note to his talon and send it back to Uncle Sam to ask for pay equality for women?” He looked bewildered to which I said, “Honestly, thank you for showing me this majestic bird, I appreciate it,” and off I rode. I made sure on the way back past him to thank him again since I’m sure he wasn’t looking for a smartass remark from a woman wearing bright pink.
As I finished my ride, I thought about all the magnificent international women who have crossed my path the past 27 years in business, some of them athletes and some entrepreneurs, like Inga from Iceland who owns a sailing and running business, or Chen Zucker from Israel, who was one of Women TIES first members, so she could sell jewelry to American women, or Dr. Juliet McGrattan from England, an author with an interest in educating women on how their bodies react to running.
They are just a few of the global women who come to mind when I think about International Women’s Day, and most of them live comfortably. Then there are our sisters in Afghanistan, who have less freedom to run on their own, or the poor women in Ukraine, struggling to get their children out of their homeland. American women have so much more access, freedoms, rights, and support in business, sports, and equality issues. We owe it to our sisters across the globe to befriend and support them.
Today’s Wednesday Wisdom, the day after International Women’s Day, is to inspire you to visit www.internationalwomensday.com and see how you can get involved in one of their seven initiatives to support global women. I hope you are also motivated to find and buy from our sister entrepreneurs across the world. It is easy to do. And thirdly, check out local organizations on ways you can support women refugees in your community.
The world is only going to improve for women, if women step up and do more than they are doing now. We can’t rely on men to change the world for women, women must change the world for women. Let’s keep proudly wearing pink and show up where we are needed the most – with and for women, period.
Monday Motivation: Drink Pink Beer – I’ll Tell You Why!
Monday Motivation, Buy from Women Entrepreneurs, Women’s History Month
It all began with Cocoa Puffs Stout and ended with Pink Boots Bingo. Where was I? Another clue, it took place in Prison City among vats of hops, tables of women dressed in shades of pink, cheese pairings, and luncheon options created by a Beeroness, who produced a cookbook of foods made from beer.
As the supporter of women-owned companies, sometimes my job is more serious like speaking to Labor Commissioners about equal pay, marching arm-in-arm with my sisters in DC for women’s rights, or even running a 3K to bring attention to women in Afghanistan who don’t have the right to run freely. Then there are joyful days when supporting a woman-owned brewery, networking with other women who started their own breweries in a male-dominated industry, make my career choice an easy, slam-dunk.
Sitting to the left of me at a large wooden table was Laura Day, the female CEO of BBL – Better Beverage Leaders, based in Maryland – a distributor of Belgium beers – along with her marketing director Brian Walsh, who traveled to Auburn, New York, to promote their brands of beer and participate as a woman-owned company in the brew industry. I tasted their pink elephant branded beer brand called Delirium, well-known by my sons. It was pretty good especially at 10:30 a.m. to kick off Women’s History Month.
After meeting Laura Dierks, Founder & CEO of Interboro,, the first Brooklyn brewery-distillery, located about ten minutes from my son’s apartment, I excitedly texted him the news and told him we were visiting it next time I was in the Big Apple. He was familiar with the brewery and their great tasting beers like their SuperHero Sidekicks beer. “You’ll see me at your place Laura and I’ll have my sons and their friends in tow, don’t worry,” I said truthfully explaining how I love putting money in the hands of other woman-owned companies first and foremost.
Framed in front of large silver shining vats of beer at Prison City Brewing, was Dawn Schultz, the co-owner of the establishment and event hostess, who spoke every time a new beer was introduced to our tables, sometimes paired with cheese or chocolates or other delicious bites. The event she declared was to raise money for the Pink Boots Society Scholarship to send women interested in the brewing industry somewhere to learn more about the career. My friends from Better Beverage Leaders in fact use the scholarship money to send a woman from their area to Belgium for training. It makes you want to get involved, right?
So, today’s Monday Motivation blog post is three-fold, and could be read with “pink” beer:
* Remember there are still industries dominated by men, with women rising in their ranks. These are women other women must support to keep the momentum going. We must change the world with our actions – especially where we place our money.
* Look on labels, websites, bar menus, and more to find products made by, or distributed, by women and commit to buy them more often while sharing their business with other consumers.
* Don’t say no to an opportunity to network with other women to open up your connections to women in diverse fields. There are some really amazing women among us.
Next time I pick up a beer to cheer with, I can guarantee you it will be from a woman-owned brewery, winery, or distributor where I know my green money turns into pink money for other women.
Thursday Thoughts: Happy 17th Birthday!
Inspiration, Wisdom, and Thursday Thoughts for Women Entrepreneurs, Female Business Owners and My Dad
On my 17th Birthday, my two best friends secretly invited all the boys in our grade, that I got along with so famously, to surprise me at a party holding a dozen red roses. I was certainly surprised when I opened the door and saw all my guy friends there! That birthday ranks up there in my top 5 most memorable ones.
Growing up on a lake meant hanging out on my dock in the summer and being picked up by male friends in boats to watch them waterski. I never said no to a boat ride or hanging out with anyone who invited me especially if it involved being on the water. I also loved be called the “token girl” on many of those warm lake days because I was typically the only girl ready and raring to go at the drop of a dime.
Flash forward to today, my company Women TIES, 17th Birthday, created on March 3, 2005 on my father’s birthday, chosen specifically to honor him as an early entrepreneurial role model. He would have celebrated his 82nd year of life today if he didn’t pass away in 2006 on one gorgeous summer day in Portland, Maine, having spent the week at the ocean’s edge with my sister Jill and her family. One of the nurses said to us one day as they saw him lying in bed not able to speak or move, “He is the most handsome stroke patient I’ve ever seen.” We agreed and let him go peacefully into eternal rest 6 days later. He lives on in my son’s, coffee, chocolate cake, the Yankees, American flags, and any silly Chevy Chase movie.
Birthdays are typically days filled with joy, laughter, chocolate cake (my family’s favorite), and gifts; but they are also filled with memories of the past year and lifetime. So today, on this snowy March Day, I not only celebrate my wonderful father’s birthday, but with all the women entrepreneurs who helped to make my company successful the past 17 years. My memories and heart are filled with cherish memories which I savor as much as summer lake days.
So cheers to my wonderful, loving Dad, all my Women TIES Members, and to the chocolate birthday cake I’ll eat later today with champagne as I toast you all who have made my life so full of love, warmth and cherished remembrances.
Wednesday Wisdom: What is Your Legacy?
Wednesday Wisdom, Hump Day, Inspiration for Women Entrepreneurs, Female Business Owners
Looking back over time, it is easy to witness the goals we did not accomplish as they stand out in bold ink on the pages of our life’s greatest attempts. Those goals could have been big or small, with good reason or not for finalizing them, but still they linger in our spirit urging us periodically to revisit them.
A fourth-place finish at the Olympics, an unpublished memoir, not asking for a raise, or a business contract that ended and not renewed, all of these could be examples of failures women face. They can be significant or insignificant depending on how important they were at one period in life.
Can you imagine being Susan B. Anthony, not knowing that women would get the right to vote, and die before you, the fierce pioneer for women’s suffrage, had a time to fulfill your biggest dream of going to the polls to vote with women by your side? I often wonder if she, and other suffragettes, died peacefully or unsatisfied that they did not see their life work come to fruition. Would they say the struggle was worth it as they took their last breath, not knowing forever they would be remembered for their valiant efforts and life changing affect on the world?
A combination of reading an article about an African American woman who finally learned to surf after years of striving for her goal and witnessing the valiant efforts of the President of Ukraine defending his democratic country with the possibility of being killed, reminded me that difficult hardships, either of our making or not and how we approach the hardship, eventually leads us to rest or unrest mentally and spiritually.
As Women’s History Month arrives again and we each fight, in some way, for the freedom and truths of our lives, we mustn’t forget the women who went before us who strived and won; and the women of today fighting their own battle, whether it’s literally taking up arms in the streets of their homeland, or putting on a wetsuit laying fear aside and conquering a big wave, or running for office for the third time.
For me, it will always be about voicing the need for equality in business, sports, and life for women of today hoping for a more equal world for women to follow. It is my wave to conquer, my gun to carry, my right to make, and in knowing this, I, like so many women before me, move forward everyday trying to change the world, leaving a lasting imprint for a better future.
This Wednesday Wisdom asks you this simple question, “What is your story? Your legacy? Your wave?” and are you willing to attempt it, and keep carrying on in the face of hardship and resistance knowing that in doing so you might not see the end of your work’s goal but knowing you gave a 100% commitment to making a difference in your life and others? Sometimes the win isn’t in the completion of the goal, but in the everyday actions to make the win eventually happen.
This is what Women’s History Month means for me. Thank you to the multitude of fearless women who led with truth and grit beyond recognition and reward at times. Let March drum up your truth and what you want to change in this world in your lifetime and keep stepping forward no matter what.
Monday Motivation: Get Out That Old Rolodex
Monday Motivation for Women Entrepreneurs, Female Business Owners, Small Businesses
As I scanned the list of my LinkedIn Connections in hopes of inviting some of them to Women TIES March events, I kept saying to myself, “there’s an oldie!” Not referring to their age but the fact the oldies were contacts, clients, and business friends from the beginning days of my entrepreneurial career now 27 years in the making. Individual memories rushed through my morning brain.
In business life, we tend to move into and out of different networking and business spheres as our careers and companies move us forward over time. A few contacts, like some elementary friends who stick with us over decades, are sometimes like clients who stay connected with us over time, but a majority do not. So why, and how, do we lose touch with these important clients, vendors, staff, and contacts so easily?
Time. Time has a way of keeping our eyes on the horizon, to the steps being laid out in front of us instead of behind us. We are onto the next best thing, the next big interest in our lives, and the next largest contact to help us succeed. We often forget to reach out periodically to the people that once mattered most in our everyday business life.
It’s natural for times to change, and with it, people exiting and entering our lives, but today’s exercise in reviewing my long LinkedIn Connect list reminded me of really great people I’ve fallen out of contact with over time. Today’s the day, I am going to reach out to a few of them just to touch base.
On this late February Monday morning when you might be stuck with new contacts because of the pandemic or lack of networking, why not spend some time looking through your “rolodex” aka LinkedIn Connections (or any social media connections) and contact a few of the golden oldies on your list who might love to hear from you. You never know how it may open doors to new sales or just good feelings to get you through another winter Monday morning.
Women TIES 