Monday Motivation For Women: No Matter What Happens Tomorrow
Monday Motivation, Election Week, Inspiration for Women Entrepreneurs, Female Business Owners, Feminists
I looked back on the blog post written the day after the 2016 election to remind women voting this year and tomorrow on Election Day 2020, with hope for a different president and future for our country, that we as women will always rise – no matter when, where or how. This isn’t a pessimistic blog post but rather a remembrance of what the day after the 2016 election felt like for women who desired and believed we would have the first female president. I hope it delivers peace that this week’s outcome won’t uproot us but strengthen our resolve no matter what.
2016 Post:
NYS Lt. Governor Kathy Hochul, Thomas Higginbotham, Tracy Chamberlain Higginbotham, Adam Higginbotham on the 100th Anniversary of New York State’s Women’s Suffrage at a New York City celebration.
There was only one important task to do in the darkness of the morning, send a text message to my two sons and husband that simply said this, “I am proud you voted for Hillary Clinton. Thank you for believing women can lead and make a difference. I love you both beyond words and am proud of you.”
Throughout my life when something didn’t go my way, it took an hour or so turning feelings of defeat into swift, raw passionate action to rally again. It happened once when a doctor informed me I was going to be fully bald within a month due to the illness alopecia, crying hard driving home an hour on the Thruway wondering how I was going to run my business, stand in front of crowds and continue my lifelong love of inspiring and uniting women entrepreneurs being bald. I couldn’t imagine it. I felt I was going to lose what I held most dear in life.
At the end of the hour drive, I arrived at a friend’s house emotionally drained but with a new outlook. I explained to her the situation and heard myself say, “Losing my hair, will never allow me to lose my love for helping women entrepreneurs. I will go on. I will find a way. I will do it.” And I have….
After a blue sky, warm day yesterday surrounded by hopeful women voting for the first female president, I drove home worried about the outcome. You see, I know something that others haven’t noticed or don’t want to realize, women are not equal in everyone’s eyes. It is why I have fought tooth and nail and dedicated my time to standing in the light of that truth and asking women to support other women in business, sports, equality and life for 30 years.
Yesterday when I thought the world of women I know might not need me as much because women would rise under the leadership of a first time female president, I realize today, they need me more than ever. I will be there for them more than ever before too. We will have feminist discussions. I will be more raw and honest about the support we must show to women in all aspects of life first and foremost. This is a new revolution of me. Come along if you want. Every one of our events will have a forum for speaking about women’s equality and business.
Remember this week is the start of a new page in our her-story. Now is the time. Now is the time. Now is the time. Join me.
Wednesday Wisdom -Woman and the Vote – Voting Inspiration
https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-fz2s9-f0a8bb
A 6-minute inspirational podcast about Women and the Vote and how you can help on November 3rd in a local graveyard where a feminist is buried.
Tracy Chamberlain Higginbotham
Women TIES
Women and The Vote – Onward!
Voting Rights, Inspiration, Success Strategies for Women, Women Entrepreneurs, Female Business Owners 
It was the third time I drove close to the firehouse to see how long the line was for early voting. Once again, the line snaked out of the doors, down the long, twisting hill and almost onto the busy road below where cars had lined up bumper to bumper. With the temperature a raw 46 degrees with small rain drops falling, I would have bet money there would be a short line. I was used to biking and running in inclement weather so standing outside wasn’t going to bother me like it might others. Well, I was wrong.
The enthusiasm of the 2020 Presidential Election is pouring out on all sides of the aisle whether you bleed blue democratic or red republican blood. The surge in early voting is reported every day on the news but to see it in person, during every attempt to vote, is purely inspirational. It’s not possible to be mad needing to return time and again because that show of democracy warms the heart.
Since March, I have volunteered for “Women and the Vote New York State” a group of genius women I met through member Jill Bates. This group and their project are providing a growing online suffragist directory and grave site map to help anyone explore New York’s rich and influential suffragist history. Their website helps find famous individuals and even those women never heard of whose grassroots efforts resulted in the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Searching for suffragists who died in New York State and contributed to the major feminist movements is fascinating and painstaking work.
I am proud every time I research a woman who has made a small or large contribution to women’s rights today because without their dedication – big or small – we might not be where we are in 2020. Before November 3rd, I invite every women reading this editorial to go to www.womenandthevotenys.com and join women around the state wearing their “I Voted” sticker on their jacket visiting graves of suffragists where you can film and talk about the significance of that female’s work. I will be in Syracuse going to a few graves in Oakwood Cemetery and would love some company so we can capture some film for the final film project.
I hope this post before the Presidential Election inspires you to continue the foundation work so many women before us have done to help women gain equality, not only with voting rights, but other rights as well. We have come far, but we still have so much work ahead. Join an organization or cause that supports women’s rights and get involved. Remember to VOTE on November 3rd, especially for candidates who support passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, which would be a major step forward in women’s equality under law.
If the women of yesterday could lay the foundation work for us today, we owe it to the next generation and also to the foremothers, to do the work needed to progress women’s rights higher faster. Vote with WOMEN in your mind on November 3rd. We can do this. We should do this. We must do this!
Visualization Success – Try It!
https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-p8nqd-f03456
A 5-minute inspirational podcast about visualizing success like becoming an author or entrepreneur. Always intended to motivate others especially women.
Wednesday Wisdom: Visualization Success
Wednesday Wisdom, Inspiration, Success Strategies for Women Entrepreneurs, Female Business Owners, Small Businesses
The white large cardboard sheet of paper propped on the couch in my home office featured a rough drawing of my pool house with pink sunbeams streaming out the windows in all directions. Inspired and drawn at a winter’s retreat at Blue Mountain Lake three years ago, the image on the paper was etched in my memory. At the time I envisioned writing my first book, a collection of 15 years of “Wednesday Wisdom,” in that space. The pink sunbeams were the feminist vibes spilling out from the written wisdom to the world of women entrepreneurs. Not far away from the windows was my sparkling aqua pool waters and greenery around the deck there to produce additional inspiration.
Visualization methods are used to cement deep yearnings and goals into reality. You have heard the quote, “If I can see it, it will happen,” thus the intention of the winter retreat exercise. Sure enough the vision came to reality except for the alteration of the book being about dealing with the loss of my self-image and uncertain entrepreneurial journey after losing all my hair to alopecia. Stripped away from my perceived beauty, I was faced with seeing myself not from the outside, but from the inside. My feelings needed to be shared and the lessons of kindness and compassion shown to me from strangers everywhere who saw me bald and assumed I had cancer. So the “pool house writing dream” became a reality just like the exercise predicted but with a slight change.
“Books are the business card for women entrepreneurs,” is a statement often heard from conference presenters, female authors, and women business owners with multiple books under their belt. I knew for a long time I wanted to be an author to add to my resume but I didn’t know what I wanted the book to be when I first had the inkling. Like tasty recipes on the stove, some creations are best when they simmer. In some cases, becoming an author isn’t dreamt of but realized due to personal or business experiences eager to be shared. I’ve spoken with enough women to know a “book” lies within them at some point in their lifetime.
Today’s Wednesday Wisdom is to inspire you to think about that question of whether or not you have a “book” within you wanting to come out. The pandemic has offered many lessons to be shared and given us more time to use idle time wisely like finally writing by starting a blog, book, or future conference materials or even submitting short stories or poems to magazines and newspapers. Like all things “women” we are inspired by other women who have gone before us as published writers leaving their thoughts, expertise and personal wisdom in print for eternity. Once your words are printed in a book form, they are there forever leaving a nice legacy for you and your family.
Create your own “writing space” image today on a blank piece of paper and keep it close. I bet if you stare at it enough times and believe it can happen, it will or join us next Tuesday to be inspired by female authors in our midst. Trust me.
You Have More Power Than You Think
https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-gbgkg-efe762
A 5-minute inspirational podcast to remind you that you have more power than you think in most situations. Check it out!
Tracy Chamberlain Higginbotham
Women TIES
Moving on From Well-Established Business Relationships
Friday Feelings, wisdom and inspiration for women entrepreneurs, female business owners and small businesses
Wet leaves covering my front lawn, which just yesterday crackled when I walked over them; illuminate my mood on this dreary Friday. Just yesterday as I filed through fifteen years of event recaps with hundreds, if not thousands, of names of women attending my company’s luncheons to promote their enterprises and gathered to inspire each other higher in business, a constant name appeared in a majority of the regions, a sponsor who worked collaboratively with me promoting and funding my programs for a decade.
Every sales presentation I’ve ever heard talks about “filling the sales pipeline” with leads so when a company loses a major client, they aren’t thrown into revenue limbo. As an event planner for ten years with my first company, I lived this strategy as event clients ranged from 3-month to multi-year contracts. Always hoping my customer service and expertise landed me their repeat business, I never knew if they would return until the new contract was inked. On average those large client events stayed with me nine years which was a gift but I always added new customers just in case a large customer didn’t need me anymore.
Running a promotional and marketing organization for women entrepreneurs for fifteen years was different than operating an event management business in the sense that businesswomen came and went year in and year out so constantly filling the sales pipeline was essential for my revenue stream and the effectiveness of my company’s mission to connect women across New York State so they could do business together. Sales and member retention became the lifeblood of my work even though in my heart I wanted to focus more on promoting my members, connecting them together, and sharing our feminist business mission with the world to inspire women to buy from women first and foremost to help with pay inequality and put money in the hands of other women – not a small feat.
So when news came quite unexpectedly from my major decade-old sponsor that she and her organization were retiring and closing, I realized two things. First, how blessed I was to have their financial support for a decade making it possible to host events to reach more women in the state, and second how much I’ll miss our collaborative partnership going forward. No one quite fills the shoes of old, familiar friends, not even a new exciting one so moving on from well-established business partnerships is difficult emotionally and financially for women entrepreneurs because we invest so much into our corporate relationships.
Today’s Friday Feelings are to remind you it is okay to rely on beneficial, long-lasting business relationships to make everyday entrepreneurship feel good, but remember like all things in life, good things don’t last forever. Be prepared at any point in business to lose a major client or supporter, and still remain steady in your progress. If you depend too heavily financially on one entity, try diversifying now. Keep the sales pipeline open. Make plans to replace steady customers. It might be easier to be business prepared, than mentally prepared, when you have to say goodbye to a long-lasting relationship. Let your constant supporters know you appreciate them too so they stay around as long as they can.
Wednesday Wisdom: You Have More “Power” Than You Think
Friday feeling for women entrepreneurs, female business owners, small businesses
Returning from a trip back in time to the pioneer days where Laura Ingalls and her family were close friends of mine, I landed back in my home office with electricity, power, water, and all the modern conveniences women living and working from home offices are used to having. Even though I reside in a house built in 1866, doesn’t mean I want to “live” in those times. Since the sudden wind burst which occurred on Wednesday at 2 p.m. knocking out everything needed to conduct business the way I’m used to out of my home the past 25 years, today is the first time I’ve seen the “light” to write a blog post to inspire you in the ways of boldness, advocacy, and tenacity.
When the NYSEG restoration time for our electricity kept creeping later and later every hour we checked it, and into a dark night and cold house with no running water because the water pumps out of a well from an electric pump, we grew increasingly unsatisfied with the delays since only 9 houses on our road were without power. Calling the “emergency outage” number to get a human being on the phone to talk to was harder than walking 20 miles on the Nebraska plains in a sand storm to find someone to listen to us. Properly following the automated prompts by a robo-voice left us frustrated until I decided to truly claim it was an emergency demanding to talk to a human being. By being so forward and not following the rules, we talked to a helpful woman, filed a complaint and learned the trouble was caused at an electric pole 4 miles from our house.
Jumping in our “wagon” we drove to Electric Pole 338 to find it totally fine with no working crews near it. We also noticed all the houses from the end of our road to the pole had electricity meaning there was no logical sense what the woman told us. “Did they find out we aren’t Trump supporters and I’m a feminist with a photo of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in our front yard so they turned off our electricity?” I asked my husband half joking. Knowing we were smart, we called NYSEG again this time getting a man on the phone who kept trying to tell me I didn’t understand the way their electrical system worked. I said, “Dude, I’m smart and it makes no logical sense that only 9 houses on our street including ours that don’t have electricity and everyone else does. Your servicemen are wrong. They need to come back out and check again.” Within 2 hours, 3 NYSEG trucks drove up our road and within 5 minutes our glorious power was back on. I waved to the trucks as they drove back down the road thanking them for finally figuring it out.
No, I don’t want to become a detective or a NYSEG employee to help with electrical situations, but I do want to remind you that have the “power” to fix a situation that doesn’t seem right. Don’t just trust what someone is telling you if it doesn’t make sense. Use your logic and tenacious spirit to get solutions to problems. Sometimes you might need to take on extra responsibility and communicate your findings to others to get situations resolved.
If we didn’t follow our guts and logic, I would still be taking a shower in my cold pool, drinking coffee by candlelight, and reading a “Little House on the Prairie” book to feel kinship with women from the pioneer days.
Speak up! Be your own best advocate always.
Wednesday Wisdom, Business Success Strategies for Women Entrepreneurs, Female Business Owners, Small Businesses
She arrived dressed in crimson attire standing ten feet tall, at the entrance to our house. She was a beauty to behold. As I approached her majesty, I wondered her name. Quietly I heard the wind rustle between her delicate limbs quietly saying, “Skarlett Oak’Hara.” The reason she appeared in our yard one beautiful autumn day was simply due to mastering the art of obtaining multiple contracting quotes on a home renovation project that saved us $500.
Yes, Skarlett Oak’Hara is a gorgeous Skarlett Oak tree to adorn our property and yes, I love trees more than most people; but I also love saving money like most women entrepreneurs. The thrill of getting extra quotes which lead to similar quality services for less money so the spare dollars can be used someplace else, is exhilarating. If we don’t shop around once in awhile to ask for bids on major entrepreneurial expenditures, projects, contractors, or staple items, we’ll never know how much we are saving by choosing the right vendor.
When we were searching for the perfect oak tree to accompany our existing century-old maple trees, we also found distinct differences in the quality, service, and knowledge of the landscaping companies. You won’t be surprised to discover a young, educated college salesperson who worked for the last company we checked on for our tree, was a bright, helpful female who won my money from the start. Her exceptional knowledge of trees, big smile, and warm tone of voice made me want to buy more than one tree if it meant she got the commission. This was just another reason the new tree had to be named after a woman – as a gentle reminder that our money went in her hands.
So, what does this short story have to do with you today? As you know there are lessons in all fables if you search for them. On this Wednesday Wisdom day, I hope you are inspired to get multiple quotes when working on any small or large projects because that extra time on the phone asking questions could land you big savings. Secondly, remember your customer service attitude could seal the deal especially with unfamiliar customers with a pocket full of money to spend, landing the sale in your bank account. Also remember, if you aren’t the main salesperson for your business, your staff reflects the friendly, helpful, and expert advice you want portrayed.
Sometimes the simplest sales transactions lead to an instant customer-fan for life. I know for one thing the next time we need another tree to compliment Skarlett Oak’Hara, my new friend Sarah, the landscaping saleswoman from Chittenango, will get the money we saved by obtaining quotes on another project. Remember, don’t just say “Frankly Dear, I don’t give a damn” about saving money, make it happen.
Wednesday Wisdom – The Value of Obtaining Multiple Vendor Quotes
https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-z2kfs-ee928a
A 5-minute podcast aimed at inspiring you to obtain multiple vendor quotes for any major or small business or life project.
Tracy Chamberlain Higginbotham
Women TIES, LLC
Women TIES 