A Peek Into Conversations with Women Entrepreneurs
Tuesday Thoughts for Women Entrepreneurs and Female Business Owners
The past two months I have been hosting private poolside chats with women entrepreneurs in a comfortable setting where we allow ourselves to be open and honest about topics related to business, life, politics, sports, equality, health and mental wellness. Each woman has two hours to share whatever she wants, ask me questions, seek guidance, laugh, share personal hardships and open up about anything they want. This conversations have been both individual and yet universal topics.
These conversations have been a gift to me and to my guests too. Today I want to share some of the less personal and more business pieces of advice shared by the women who have visited me. My hope is although you are not sitting with me physically by my pool or in my poolhouse, you feel the interest and motivation in business today.
* Women are peaceful and grounded in what they do for others.
* We don’t have to do everything ourselves. Let go and give away work someone else can do.
* Seek testimonials from clients and use to attract new customers.
* Sports build confidence in women.
* Today’s generation operates more through technology than person to person so keep meeting people in person when you can.
* We all have a book inside of us. Writing a book gets out what is inside of me.
* Turning an unused room in a house into a new studio can inspire women needing change.
* There is a divine design for your life. Look for it.
Stay tuned because I’ll be sharing more wisdom as more women visit me poolside this summer. Until then, let me know what wisdom you would like to share with other women entrepreneurs.
Be the Light to Someone on the 4th of July
Inspiration and Wisdom for the Fourth of July
On the other end of my cell phone was a familiar voice, a warm, typically bubbly voice that sounded a bit low even though it was her birthday. Knowing how hard her profession has been the past eighteen months because she is a scientist communicating with customers ranging from 5,000 person companies to 5 staff operations answering safety procedures and protocols due to the pandemic. “I’m just wiped-out Tracy as we begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel with Covid-19,” she said. “It’s been brutal.”
Her exasperated voice sounded familiar to my husbands who helps manage a large company where they’ve lost customers and staff and are facing supply chain shortages due to the backlog of work and products and lackluster vendors during the economic shutdown. “Wow, it is crazy here,” a quick text message said after the phone call with my friend. Although I’ve represented small woman-owned companies for almost 3 decades, most of them haven’t faced the same enormous corporate issues as my husband and friend have due to the size of their enterprises; but that’s not to say these female-owned companies haven’t seen decreases in their revenue or shortages in supply or staff or increases in pricing like big corporations, because they have. They are equally stressed waiting for the end of the pandemic tunnel.
After hearing a tragic story about a young man who lost his life to suicide due to stress from work and the pandemic, I remembered the words of my friend say, “I think people need more mental health programs or seminars. People have been under too much stress and its coming to the surface now.” She’s right. I’ve witnessed it, read about it and understand not everyone comes through a crisis the same way for different reasons.
As you hopefully take the 4th of July Weekend off from work to gather with others, remember there might be people in your family, work network, or larger neighborhood circle, who might be having a hard time even though the fireworks are going off and the hotdogs grilled perfectly. Keep an eye open for anyone who could use the compassion or generosity of someone like you to ask them how they’ve been doing or how they are feeling especially if you know their professional career or life has been impacted by Covid-19.
We always want holiday time to be joyous and celebratory but for some this year, your attention and personal conversation might be just what they need to release some stress to be able to move on and feel better. Be that special light to someone that a firework might not bring on July 4th.
Wednesday Wisdom: 1776 Patriotic Pride Still Alive Today
Wednesday Wisdom, Inspiration, Motivation for Women Entrepreneurs & Female Business Owners
When I think of the upcoming 4th of July holiday, my memory drifts back to my childhood, long before I became a woman entrepreneur, sitting in Johnstown, New York, on the orange carpet in my paternal grandparent’s living room watching, what seemed like, millions of bursts of colors and sounds protruding from their television set. It was the year 1976 which marked the United States Bicentennial with grand celebrations and observances paying tribute to events leading up to the creation of the United States of America as an independent republic.
Back in my hometown of Rome, New York, I grew up very aware of the date 1776 since Fort Stanwix was built there in 1758 by British forces and rebuilt in 1776 by American forces. It was part of every history class I ever took. The fort was built to protect a six-mile-long trail, the Oneida Carrying Place, between the Mohawk River and Wood Creek. The house I grew up in dated back to 1782 with old fireplaces, square nails, hidden rooms, and the smell of history. Being in sixth grade in 1976, our school conducted historic plays and musical performances marking the celebration.
Back on the fireplace mantel of my paternal grandparent’s house was a framed image of my great grandfather Charles Chamberlain and his seven sons, all but two who served in the navy at the same time in the 1940s. My great grandfather was crowned “Working Father of the Year” in the mid-1940s. Unfortunately, there weren’t any women in the family in active duty, just men, and I imagine my great grandmother praying all the time for the safe return of her five sons. Although I didn’t know her, I imagine I have some of her fighting spirit and faith in my DNA.
In fact, when I ask my 87-year-old aunt about the patriotic or feminist achievements of the women on the Chamberlain side of the family, she tells me there aren’t any stories. When I think about my maternal side of my family, my grandfather was born in Italy, came to America at age 8, and eventually served in World War II for America fighting against Italians. My grandmother never made it to high school as the women supported the family while the men were at war. Alas, my patriotic spirit didn’t come from women, but men.
Sometimes I imagine my feminist action and words make me a solider of sorts in the fight of equality since the Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” and he doesn’t mention “women” in the document. Women then, as they are today, still aren’t equal to men in pay and other areas, thus an ongoing war of sorts still exists.
Today’s Wednesday Wisdom is to inspire you to think about the men, and hopefully women, in your family who fought back in 1776 up to today for our many freedoms. Who are they? Do you know enough about them? Are you like any of them? Do you wish you could be? Please think of them all this weekend and share any female names with me.
I don’t ever want to fight in a real, physical war, but I will continue fighting this 4th of July and all the next ones, for women’s rights to equality in all things we hold dear. I hope someday mine, and your, granddaughters or grandsons know what our generation did to “fight” for our own passions, injustices, and freedoms even if it wasn’t in active duty.
Wednesday Wisdom: High on Life Again
Wednesday Wisdom and Inspiration for Women Entrepreneurs, Female Business Owners, Entrepreneurs
There wasn’t a literal bucket in Section 228, Seat 22, in the Bronx but there should have been one. High above the sights and sounds of a New York City suburb, clouds stretched down from above touching my shoulders on a hot and humid day. It made no sense chills would run up my arms at the same time ignoring the 90-degree temperatures in this American institution, but I knew why. Proudly wearing blue and white with a new pink hat, my son bought me for the occasion, we linked arms, exchanged smiles, and sat down for my bucket list adventure of seeing the New York Yankees on Father’s Day Weekend fifteen years after I promised my father, I would take him there, but didn’t because he passed away suddenly one beautiful July day.
There are some things in life that put a smile on your face and this weekend’s experience was one of them. Everywhere you looked the blue and white stripped brand colors of the Yankees appeared on everything – jerseys, hats, foam fingers, and even beer cans. My “Pinstripe Pilsner” was my favorite beverage of the day because it was branded. When an unexpected emergency of a woman fainting as I passed her going to the bathroom, even the cold, water bottle I used to cool her down with alongside her husband had pinstripes on it. “I’m so embarrassed, thank you,” she said to me as I got down on the ground to talk to her until the emergency staff came with a wheelchair. “It’s okay these things happen once in awhile and I’m happy to help.” She whispered, “You’re an angel.” I figured it was another sign from my father that he was there.
Always known in my family for leaving any highly attended event before the crowd, we stayed to the very last pitch that sealed the Yankees come back win. I didn’t want to leave early because the dream was real and couldn’t be replaced even if I returned one day. I likened the experience to last week’s first live Women TIES event, since the pandemic, when some of my favorite Rochester women entrepreneurs embraced each other for the first time in a year, exchanged business cards, drank coffee, and listened to wisdom from another female business owner. The event stretched longer than scheduled including an impromptu lunch with a few members because I didn’t want to leave.
What I want you to feel in today’s Wednesday Wisdom is the excitement of life opening up again, the realization of long-time dreams, how your brand may make people smile, and how the company of people around, and maybe even above you, can make you happy. We’ve been serious for so long that new, fun, exhilarating adventures and dreams can feel more intense and gratifying than before. Give it a try. Say “yes” to a new networking event. Launch a new phase of your business. Double down on your branding. Go meet friends or clients for lunch. Live. Enjoy. Relate again.
You don’t have to be seated above a baseball field to experience the “high” of life and business connections again, you just have to put yourself in the game.
Pay Equality Doesn’t Get Better For Women in June
Every June I cringe as I walk out of a local store after spotting Syracuse Woman’s Magazine (aka Syracuse Man’s Magazine in June) with a man on the cover. Why, a man you ask? Because it’s June which contains Father’s Day. Well excuse my feminist mindset, but once committed as a woman’s only magazine, including the name on the magazine’s cover, don’t shrink to not featuring women during one month out of the year because it has a man’s holiday within it. Pay equality doesn’t get better for women in June.
Women entrepreneurs are still struggling during the post-pandemic economy to recover financially from an unexpected twelve month hit. The government and lawmakers have not ratified the Equal Rights Amendment now that Covid-19 is past to help women’s equality either. Life has gone on and will continue as it’s been when it comes to highlighting, and paying men first at a higher rate.
Syracuse Woman Magazine’s new publisher is also a man and the face you see early into the edition. Why is a man publishing a “woman’s magazine?” It used to be the place you found a woman writing the editorial. I could see if the world was suddenly 50/50 in all aspects of business, sports, equality, and life issues then I wouldn’t care if a man was running a woman’s magazine, but we aren’t even close. Not by a long shot.
I have become known as a “feminist business leader” because I believe and promote loudly that until there is a pay equality law women should buy from women first and foremost or give their business to a female sales representative who gets a commission or share referrals about other women entrepreneurs. I’ve been married to a wonderful man for 33 years. I have two grown sons who I adore. I love men; but I hate that women aren’t equal in all aspects of life.
When I was running a local women’s business group for 9 years, a couple women on our leadership team wanted to have male speakers, thinking we had run out of good options for female speakers. I refused saying, “As President of this all-woman’s organization, with the word ‘woman’ in the title, it’s not allowed unless we cannot find a woman to speak on the subject we want, and I’m positive we can” – and we always did. A few years later, I stepped down from that leadership role to create my company Women TIES dedicated to woman-focused everything.
When you think women are equal to men, and men deserve to take women’s places as coaches of women’s sports teams, profiles on women’s magazines, and presenting at women’s events, think again about how much money women have lost playing second fiddle to tradition. #BuyfromWomen #HireWomen
Wednesday Wisdom: How’s Your Patience Level?
Wednesday Wisdom, Inspiration, Motivation for Women Entrepreneurs, Female Business Owners, Small Business
If there was one thing yoga taught me years ago, it was to hold in place long enough to focus patiently on a perfect stance in an awkward position. Over time, I learned to slow down my Italian and runner’s energy to just be and stop. Composure was formulated during these practices. I took that calm with me to supermarket lines, race start lines, and stop lights. “Breathe, slow down, be patient,” I’d say to myself.
I had a feeling a year ago that when everyone emerged from their safe reclusive homes and work havens at the end of the pandemic, people wouldn’t know how to respond to an abundance of other people’s actions, traffic jams, or long grocery lines even though we craved them during solitude. As proof my husband, a Corporate Operations Director for a building materials company, comes home every night from work frustrated on how long the wait times are for building materials and products for their company’s clients even though it isn’t their fault; it’s backlogs, shutdowns, and lack of employees in their wholesale partners companies.
Next week when we host our first LIVE event at Union Place Coffee Roasters, a business that expanded, not shrank, during the pandemic, owner Laurie DiProspero will share wisdom on handling a slowdown in the supply chain, pricing increases, and staff shortages to keep your business successful. We’ll enjoy fresh roasted coffee and network for the first time with other women in business checking in to see how they survived, thrived, and are reigniting their businesses.
When I interviewed Sue Beebe, a former 20-year business owner and long-time member, about how she “ramped down” her company to retire in 2019, she gave insight that most of us might understand after trying to run our companies during the pandemic. We each had to face our situation, plan for an exit or re-emergence strategy, set new goals with timelines, and put it in action. Sue’s retirement plan wasn’t so different from where we all stand right now re-examining our lives and companies.
Today’s Wednesday Wisdom is to encourage you to listen to Sue’s interview and sign up for our event at Laurie’s new expanded location for inspiration, and then wipe away any cobwebs hanging in your company that have been there for a year and set course. It’s okay if you decide to ramp back up or ramp down based on your future plans. We aren’t meant to be business owners forever, there are other parts of our lives to enjoy which you might have realized in 2020. It is okay to switch directions, begin anew, or go-for-it with new found gusto.
You might also need to stay still in a yoga stance, breathing in and out, to take that first step or to gear up energy. It’s all good. It’s all up to you.
Rethinking What We Want To Do Less
Thursday Thoughts, Wisdom and Advice for Women Entrepreneurs and Female Business Owners
As I listened intently to a webinar produced by Andi Simon, PHD called “Rethink Your Journey,” my mind washed over 26 years of entrepreneurial life. When prompted, we wrote down what we wanted more of, less of, and would never change in our lives. Selling was the immediate response I answered to what I wanted less of – adding it to the top of my list. I’ve loved 26 years of running my own companies, but five years ago, after two decades of sales, I couldn’t do it anymore – direct phone call sales, that is.
Revenue totals dropped the moment I gave up making direct phone calls or asks. It was like hitting a wall where you simply can’t get through it or around it, and as noticeable as trying to run with a torn hip muscle. You just don’t move. You stop. It’s that simple.
Budding women entrepreneurs can’t imagine how much time will be spent on selling, especially as they start out. Sales efforts have to be consistent activities that almost supersede other duties. Pushing off sales responsibilities to an assistant never works either because the founder of the company has more urgency and knowledge of what they are selling – especially the first three years.
When I discovered a love for writing and social media marketing became an inadvertent sales tool, it became my substitute to direct phone calls. It felt easy and breezy. As customers became more comfortable communicating via email and text, limiting the need to talk to some on the phone, direct sales took a back burner to the old fashion way of securing clients or renewals. This was not the case when I launched my first company in 1995.
So, what do you do if you are tired of doing sales and your business model relies on it? As Andi implied today, we must identify the issue and rethink how we’ll continue working in the future or even rethink our business model. How do you begin to change such a big part of entrepreneurial life? Andi says, “Craft a new story for your future and remember even the smallest changes make a difference – the small wins, win!”
Business planning, here I come.
P.S. If you need help rethinking your journey, check out Andi Simon’s business opportunities to assist you called “Rethink Your Journey Online”, check it out by clicking on the title.
Wednesday Wisdom: Influencer Marketing
Wednesday Wisdom, Inspiration, Motivation for Women Entrepreneurs, Female Business Owners, Women
One of the most interesting programs we hosted in Albany was with a woman entrepreneur and public speaker who described how every piece of clothing on her body, her hairdo, and sparkling jewelry was sponsored by companies. Always intrigued by new ways to earn revenue or merchandise, she gave the audience suggestions on approaching their favorite companies for items in exchange for promotion. Ten years later, this concept the speaker was talking about is called influencer marketing.
According to financesonline.com, “Influencer marketing is like celebrity endorsement prevalent in the age of mass media. Instead of just gunning for movie stars or musical artists, marketers place their products on social media channels and other digital touchpoints in their given realm. And because of their relatively low cost and extensive market reach, 25% of small businesses use influencers for their social media marketing (Visual Objects, 2020). And this is why many SMBs are increasing their marketing budgets on Instagram.”
I’ve seen this happening in my own Instagram account where I find athletic clothing companies promoting an ad looking for “people like me” (aka bikers, runners, athletes) to take a survey to see if they fit their description to wear and endorse their brand. I am thinking of answering some because my friend Jo Moseley in England, who paddleboards across her country, reps a couple outdoor clothing lines and even has giveaways on her social media channels because of the companies she works with.
So, the next time you are flipping through your Instagram or other social media marketing channels quickly, why not stop and see if a national company is trying to persuade you to represent their line of favorite products, clothing or business items. Like any other partnerships in business, make sure the brand fits your ethics, image, and reputation. We want to always align with like-minded businesses.
Today’s Wednesday Wisdom is to entice you to think of the items you can’t live without on a personal or professional basis and consider researching whether you can represent your favorite brands by promoting them in exchange for some benefits. Look within your professional industry and in your personal realms to find matches. Make a list of your “favorites” and start researching the companies or Google to see if you can be their next model.
I, for one, love my Asics sneakers and wouldn’t wear any other brand, maybe Asics are looking for a middle-aged, bald, athletic woman like me with a social media following, to give $200 sneakers or a hat to in exchange for video messages of photos? You never know unless you ask, right? Become a marketing influencer and see what it gets you.
Wednesday Wisdom: Always Ascending
Wednesday Wisdom, Inspiration, Motivation for Women Entrepreneurs, Female Business Owners, Women
Every single morning as I take my bike off the back of my car, I choose the path I’ll take. Some days when the wind is blowing hard, I know the West Lake Trail will be challenging on the way over the bridge that ascends slowly over time to the turnaround point five miles away. As I crest the hill there have been times my bike felt like it wasn’t moving no matter my strenuous efforts because the wind is a massive force of nature when it chooses. All I do is let my legs work as hard as they can with a mind of steel determination until the turnaround point allows me to catch my breath and enjoy the descend.
Until recently was there only one long ascent to master but alas the trail was extended down a long path on larger hill then it the trail flattens around the lake to another turnaround point going over a railroad bridge. What is a tenacious girl to do when there’s another challenge to behold – not take it? Come on, you have to take it. So down the larger hill I road one day, refusing to apply my brakes, knowing it was going to be the joyful part of the journey. On the way back as the steep hill approached, I promised myself not to stop my bike no matter how tough it got to peddle upwards. Again, I felt the bike not moving half way up the difficult hill until I crested it at a pace slower than a turtle.
As I received notice yesterday that SUNY Oswego President Deborah Stanley was retiring from her post after 26 years of superb leadership at the helm of my alma mater, I applauded her for the ascension she made at the time when few women were college presidents. Deborah was my one-time business law teacher in the 1980s and I watched her climb the ranks to a new position on top of her own hill overlooking windy Lake Ontario.
Riding my bike today, I took the double hard hill trail to salute her for her arduous climb and longevity in Oswego and for the many times she mentored me and saluted Women TIES at our 10th Anniversary celebration with a glass of champagne and words of wisdom. What you might not know about Deborah is how she has accelerated women to leadership roles in every position around her and was focused on diversity a long time ago. She is a power house of a petite, brilliant woman I have always respected and will miss.
Today’s Wednesday Wisdom is to encourage you to keep elevating your business and mind every chance you have. Remember you can follow in the footsteps of women today and yesterday who have shown us how to climb through the ranks. When you come to a fork in the road, as I do daily during my bike rides, choose the more difficult road in front of you because not only will it elevate your spirit, it teaches you a lesson about yourself every time you do and that taking the hard route eventually becomes the easy one until there is another hill. Keep ascending.
Monday Motivation: Passion Beats Age
There is much to be said about getting older whether it is embracing silver strands of hair once brilliantly black with shine, taking siestas when our once energetic bodies had boundless fuel, or considering exit plans for our companies when they age too. Aging isn’t for the soft-hearted but the bold people still looking for action, passion, and success as they “progress” through the years.
I’ve been fortunate to observe the women in my life age gracefully and with strength due to either their desire to stay fit, faithful practices based in their religion, and traveling to new countries abroad. A couple of them in their 80s actually still work everyday at their own businesses or their son’s practices. I dare say for them 80 is the new 30 which was the age when I opened my first company.
The talk of the weekend was about age if you follow golf – in this case men’s golf. Phil Mickelson became the first over-50-year-old to win a major PGA Championship. If you looked at how he played, you wouldn’t guess he was in his fifth decade of life. He rallied the entire day next to a 31-year-old Brooks Koepka taking the Wanamaker trophy in the end. The commentators spoke how Phil uses mantras, visualization and calm breathing now before he strikes the ball something he didn’t do earlier in his career.
In his case, “slowing down” was a key to success not a hindrance. Staying in shape and learning from failure were also factors. Twelve days before winning the PGA Championship Phil tweeted, “I’ve failed many times in my life and career and because of this I’ve learned a lot. Instead of feeling defeated countless times, I’ve used it as fuel to drive me to work harder. So today, join me in accepting our failures. Let’s use them to motivate us to work even harder.”
Although I typically find inspiration from women only, as a 56-year old woman who loves participating and watching sports, I tip my 2019 PGA Championship hat off to Phil for his wise words and tenacity for people still finding youth in their fifth decade. I also tip my pink hat and pink golf ball to the older women in my life who haven’t slowed down and showed me age is only a number, passion beats age in any situation.
Women TIES 