Wednesday Wisdom: Priorities, Planning & Mother Nature
Wednesday Wisdom, Inspiration and Business Success Strategies for Women Entrepreneurs
I learned long ago in my early event management years one can arrange for the best event of the year by planning the small details, sending out beautiful invitations and obtaining media coverage so everyone knows about the event only to discover Mother Nature has authority in the outcome of the celebration.
As Hurricane Florence speeds toward America’s eastern seaboard, I think about all the brides who dreamed of being married this weekend in this region now frazzled needing to move their location or date and notifying guests. There are also companies with golf events, non-profit fundraisers and black tie galas in the path of this monstrous storm facing the same scenario. I know how they feel because I’ve been a three decade event planner and because my sister and I are scheduled to race in our first triathlon on the Delaware coast this weekend which includes a ½ mile swim in the ocean.
Priorities come quickly into focus when making decisions. Mother Nature is powerful and undiscerning in whose path she’ll cross with life-threatening situations. I have said to many wedding clients choosing outside wedding settings to be prepared for the extra stress that goes into worrying about the weather. In the event planning and travel industries planners can secure insurance policies to cover extreme weather situations but often it leaves the guest to contemplate their participation stake in the event.
My sister’s mother-in-law died this week putting additional stress on our decision to participate in the triathlon – another unforeseen life occurrence that affects personal and business obligations. I wanted her to make the decision about our commitment to the triathlon, not me. I ran in the Boston Marathon so I feel I could swim, run and bike in remnants of Hurricane Florence. She is in a different mindset and so we decided last night to at least cancel our hotel reservations to get money back but keep the triathlon on the table until Thursday.
The company hosting the event has not made any announcements about their decision which doesn’t help their participants. I assume since it’s their 22nd year of hosting the event, in a month prone to hurricanes, they have event insurance to cover their expenses. I also hope they allow 2018 registrants to use their fees for 2019 in light of the weather situation. In the end I’m sure they are grappling with an event that could produce liabilities and financial loss, as business owners we sympathize with this situation.
Today’s Wednesday Wisdom is a clear reminder to women entrepreneurs and small businesses planning events or hosting corporate programs, to have a clear communication plan for cancellations as well as insurance policies to protect themselves. Mother Nature doesn’t only wreak havoc on events but to businesses structures, cars and revenue if a business needs to stop for a period of time.
Let’s keep our thoughts with the numerous businesses and individuals in the path of Hurricane Florence and pray for their safety and swift return to normalcy.
9/11 Anniversary – When Fear and Freedom Meet
Inspiration and Wisdom about Fear and Freedom this 9/11 Anniversary
As the beautiful old Christopher Columbus sailing vessel replica took off from Battery Park, the sun shone brightly across the New York City harbor. I’ve loved sailing since I was young growing up on a lake when I would take my sunfish out by myself to catch some air and peace of mind. It was just like Christopher Cross’s song, “Sailing takes me away to where I’ve always heard it could be. Just a dream and the wind to carry me and soon I will be free…” I wanted to give my sons a taste of that freedom after a long work week.
Fear has a way of stopping you in your tracks sometimes. As we set off on our sail with the brilliance of the sparkling sunlight hitting the new Freedom Tower erected after the September 11th attacks where I lost my dear friend Dan Brandhorst in the second plane that hit the second tower, I didn’t feel anymore fear like I did for years after the tragedy. I felt peace glancing at the tower upon this beautiful sailing vessel. Perhaps it was a gift from my friend who I’ve honored the past 17 years.
My oldest son turned to me and said, “Mom, you know we are going right past the Statue of Liberty don’t you?” I cringed at the thought since that statue has always frightened me since visiting it up close when I was young. I know it is a crazy fear but fear is illogical. As the warm breezes greeted my face with my two sons at my side, they made someone take a photo of us in front of Lady Liberty dissolving my fear. The love of others in moments of fear can help dissipate the emotion.
I thought I would need more than one cocktail to get me through the September 11, 2001 visions in my mind or the great size of Lady Liberty but instead as my sons chatted to each other, I embraced the feeling of peace hearing the lapping water, feeling the breeze in my hair and warmth on my face and the realization that fear can be overcome in a simple sailboat trip in a harbor. Your heart has to be open to receive the blessing and your mind ready to move forward.
So today I am grateful for my friendship with Dan Brandhorst, my love for water and sailing and my sons who with their presence elevated my spirits during the meaningful trip. Just like song said, “The wind will carry me and soon I will be free.”
Women Need to Keep Fighting Like Serena
Inspiration for women, women entrepreneurs, females in sports, feminists
If the NFL thought their season opening weekend was going to make the headlines, they were mistaken. Instead a female dominated sports issue that occurred on Saturday is being talked about still and perhaps the rest of the year or decade. I knew Serena Williams would be playing in the US Open on Saturday so I made sure to turn on the television. I followed her story because she was a returning mother to the courts and her desire to win the US Open after having a child.
I understood Serena’s story because I re-entered the workplace eight weeks after my first son was born. It was a difficult transition for me as it is for most mothers leaving their child after giving birth; especially if it is your first born when feeling responsible for another person’s life is unexplainable before their birth. I remember looking down in the quiet twilight moment after my son was born with no one around me and saying to myself as I looked at his full head of dark hair, dark brown eyes and perfect lips saying, “I’m a mother! I’m a mother.”
Unlike Serena I did not have to get back to top athletic form to return to work. I also didn’t have millions of people watching my progress. My interest in watching her perform was to lend invisible support to a returning working mother in her job to succeed. I was watching when the umpire started what I saw as an unfair response to Serena’s actions. She was culpable for the first point being taken away but not for losing an entire game for making her opinion heard. I know I would have acted just like Serena defending my character if accused otherwise. When women become mothers, especially mothers to daughters, their lives take on a new meaning. I don’t have a daughter but I fight for my five nieces rights when I stand up for my own.
My sons tell me they see women equal to men so stop fighting; but they can’t see the same things I see or feel what I feel because they are men. They may sympathize with my emotions as their mother but when they say to me, “Mom, women are equal to men. Why do you fight so hard for them?” I point to Serena’s example to remind them women still have a long way to go to gain equality in sports, business and equality issues.
Not everyone can walk in other’s footsteps but until women (and men) stick up for inequality of play in the workplace, marketplace and even on the tennis courts women won’t achieve universal equality. I believe it is up to women to champion other women’s fight because in the end their fight is our fight. We are sisters in inequality until more of us try even harder to change the world for women.
Looking Forward to Seeing Pink in October
Women TIES believes in women supporting women in business, sports, equality and life. Thursday blog posts are ways women can support women in life issues.
I was sitting in a beautiful conference room when a young woman in her thirties sharing her cancer story with the audience. She was part of a speaker series to lift women up in business. Her smile and positive energy was inspiring. As she shared her personal story of being diagnosed with breast cancer in her early twenties only to find out she also had cancer in a couple other parts of her body, the room got quiet. As the story progressed, we learned she beat the cancer diagnosis and started a company called Positively Pink Packages. Her organization takes the best information, coping tools and comfort aides and puts them all in one place for newly diagnosed breast cancer patients around Central New York.
I have met many amazing women in my two decade career as a woman entrepreneur, but Jennifer Tom Founder of Positively Pink Packages, was extra special. There is something so welcoming in who she is and what her organization provides. Jennifer shared the statistic that one in four women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. I didn’t know anyone diagnosed with breast cancer until I met Jennifer; but every year since women have told me they were just diagnosed, recovering or back in an active state of the disease. Since I serve women, it has been more of a priority to share Positively Pink Packages’ services and to support breast cancer awareness. One woman diagnosed with breast cancer is too many, but knowing four women every year who are diagnosed is startling.
An NFL football with the Breast Cancer Awareness Month logo sits on the field during an NFL football game between the Cleveland Browns and the Denver Broncos(AP Photo/David Richard)
I love the color pink because it represents women. I love the color pink more in October because it represents supporting the women I care about through breast cancer and knowing they will survive and thrive!
Wednesday Wisdom: The Balancing Act
Inspiration and Wednesday Wisdom for women entrepreneurs, female business owners, home based businesses
As the bright yellow school bus drove past my house this morning on its way to pick up the boy next door, I reminisced about waiting in the driveway with my two sons years ago. My oldest son was timid riding the bus until his younger brother joined him three years later. Being an at-home-business woman back in the early nineties was a pioneering experience since technology was just being developed allowing women to conduct business from home. It was taboo to tell your clients you worked from home back then so I never told them unless they asked.
One day I was visiting a potential event planning client to present a proposal and the client point blank asked me how he could be assured I would have enough time to work for him. I was puzzled and said, “Why do you think I wouldn’t have time to do work?” He responded, “I just interviewed one of your competitors who told me that you work from home and spend a lot of time with your children.” I was stunned and angry. I said to him, “If you want to know how well I perform services for clients, ask my customers not a competitor.” I pushed back my chair from the table, stood up, thanked him for the interview and left.
As I walked down the street, I knew I would not accept the contract based on the conversation. The next morning the man called me and offered me the job, I turned him down even though the money was good and the event was very interesting. He was shocked. I gave him a plausible reason but knew I didn’t need the pressure of performing to perfection and accounting for my time. It was, and still is, the best decision I ever made.
Sometimes it takes years to figure out as a woman entrepreneur what your priorities are and where to place restrictions on your time. I knew my worth as an event planner and how well I juggled motherhood and entrepreneurship. I didn’t need a man or customer to question my work ethic. I knew I was an exceptional vendor.
The day I dropped my oldest son off at Boston College, where he was still nervous, I gave him a hug and told him I loved spending every moment I could with him because I knew this day would come. I smiled as we left knowing I had accomplished being a great mother and working woman entrepreneur. Today my oldest son is an Orthopedic Surgical Physician Assistant at the best Orthopedic Hospital in the country and my youngest son is a Civil Engineer and I am still a working woman entrepreneur with 23 years of happiness.
Today’s Wednesday Wisdom is meant to inspire you to consider what’s most important in your life right now and to make those things a priority. Figure out how to balance personal time with your loved ones and your business obligations. Women can have and do it all if they prioritize and plan for both important parts of their lives. The priorities may change over time but the need to be balanced does not.
Women Face Inequality in Sports
Inspiration and wisdom for women in sports, women in business and women caring about equality issues
As I watched the US Tennis Open this weekend on Billie Jean King Court, I wished I was watching a young up and coming female tennis player named Quinn Gleason. I heard about Quinn from her mother Cindy Constantino Gleason, a junior high school friend who swam with me and two other girls on the boys team when funding was cut for the girls team that year. I hadn’t seen Cindy in three decades and yet we embraced a couple weeks ago in Rochester at a women’s equality conference by fate. Little did we know as eighth graders we were feminists in our own way not backing down from the sport we loved but being confident enough to swim with the boys!
At our recent meeting, Cindy and I went from 15 year old girls to 50 year old women proudly talking about our children and careers. I shared the fact I had two sons one that played basketball and was a four year manager of the Boston College men’s team from 2010-2014 and the other one playing and managing the Syracuse University Men’s Club Lacrosse team for four years. Cindy told me about her daughter Quinn’s career high Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) singles ranking of 464 and a career high WTA doubles ranking of 260 in October 2017.
I shared with Cindy my goal of interviewing as many female athletes as I could from 1960 to 2018 to learn how they got involved in sports, what inequalities they have faced in their individual sports, what they would like to see changed in women’s sports and how to get more women in the stands at women’s sporting events. “It’s a PROJECT,” my friend Kathrine Switzer said to me after introducing me to some women at the Women’s Sports Foundation. Kathrine has been a running icon for women (and men) for 51 years and has been in my midst the past three years as a mentor and friend.
What I have found at during the interviews is women face inequality in most sports in many different ways most people don’t know about. I don’t think people should stay uninformed. The only way equality will ever be achieved for women across the landscape is shedding a spotlight on inequality issues every time we find one. I believe strongly women must support women to change the world and that includes in the sporting arenas.
The next time you are invited to attend a women’s sporting event or to cheer on your daughter, niece, granddaughter or neighbor remember women in sports need you supporting them!
Conduct A Listening Tour With Your Customers
Wednesday Wisdom for Women Entrepreneurs, Women in Business, Female Business Owners, Small Businesses
This time of year naturally pulls me back to my school and college days when I needed to listen more than I spoke in order to learn. Typically a formal educational setting involves one teacher speaking and a classroom full of students listening. Once in awhile, the teacher would listen as students presented homework projects and speeches but for the most part students had the role of listening.
In 2016 after Hillary declared herself a presidential candidate, she went on a listening tour. She wanted to listen, not talk to, constituents to understand the important issues of their personal agendas. People and the media didn’t understand why Hillary was listening and not talking as much at campaign stops. One of her campaign managers Melanne Verveer explained, “What they missed was she was actually listening! By the time she finished those listening sessions around New York, she really knew more about New York, about the issues there, about what was on people’s minds.”
A lot can change in a short or long period of time especially for a woman entrepreneur who manages a business. Not only do changes in competition, industry standards, marketplace pricing and world events create changes for a business entity, it typically affects the businesses’ clients. If an entrepreneur has been operating for two, five or ten years through major changes in the economy without re-assessing its position and needs of its clients, it can lose touch with factors clients use to make buying decisions.
Over the past five months while on medical sabbatical I contemplated Women TIES mission and members with a great deal of thought on full days of beautiful blue sky and summer breezes. It might sound corny but the peaceful surroundings and quietness of mind allowed me to think about where my business started 14 years ago, how it has slowly changed over time and social issues inspiring me to adjoin two divisions to the company. The divisions came from women interested in more interactivity besides just business ties. A lesson from an older woman entered my mind saying, “Pay attention to the way your business road turns then curves and leads you off the original road to find where success lies.”
Women TIES road has curved, so has my personal health at times, because of this I want to host a fall listening tour in all Women TIES regions where we created programs and have members so I can ask and listen to the 2018 needs of women entrepreneurs across New York State. I will also bring women together who have interest in our sports and equality divisions to develop them further. I hope you join me this October when I kick-off the special listening tour luncheons.
Today’s Wednesday Wisdom might inspire you to contemplate whether or not you should conduct a listening tour of your customers or staff? Has your industry been changed the past five or ten years? Have your customers been asking for new services or products from you? Does your staff hear ideas from clients because they are on the front line and if so, do you ask them what they hear and see happening? Do you speak to other industry professionals about changes happening to them so you can compare notes?
Today might be the day you decide to listen more than talk, to uncover golden nuggets of information to help you stay, maintain or change the course of your enterprise. I look forward to “hearing” from you on the road this fall.
Tuesdays Are For Women in Sports
Inspiration and wisdom for women in sports, female athletes, women who like sports, women in business
As I entered the Syracuse stadium in 2004, home to the Syracuse Chiefs Baseball team and the Syracuse Sting Professional Women’s Football team (football not soccer), I felt a shiver up my back because I was under the lights in an unchartered territory supporting a unique women’s sporting team. Ask I walked out on the field, I was almost shoulder to shoulder with two much taller women football players. My father had been a football coach and I remember wishing he was there to see me walking out to toss the coin! It was electric. Next to me was Cabrina Gilbert, the team’s leader, who helped lead the 4-year-old team to an Eastern Division Championship in the Women’s Professional Football League (WPFL) in 2002 and 2003 seasons.
I had forgotten this unique sporting memory until I came across the team’s sweatshirt I bought that night to financially support them. It had a signature bee in the logo. I understood how much the team needed money to survive to play and contend and how vital it was to get fans in the seats – especially female fans. But after four years of juggling all the duties that came with running the team which included publicity, fundraising and management, Cabrina eventually turned the team over a former male football player (with a daughter) who wanted to keep the team going.
IRISH POWER HOUR
Graciously my favorite sports icon Kathrine Switzer, the first woman to officially enter the Boston Marathon in 1967, who has become a close friend, introduced me to women running the Women’s Sports Foundation created by Billie Jean King 44 years ago. The Women’s Sports Foundation is dedicated to creating leaders by ensuring girls access to sports. My conversation with them has lead to an once-in-a-lifetime invitation to an annual female athletic conference in October so I can meet more women in sports for my presentation.
I have supported and advocated for women in business for 23 years but 5 years ago added a “Women’s Athletic Network” to bring more women in business together to participate in and enjoy women’s sports together. We need more female fans in the seats to advance the amount of advertisers and pay for female athletes who deserve the same audience and pay as men. If you are a woman reading this who is or was an accomplished athlete or knows of one, please reach me at this link so I can interview you too.
Cabrina Gilbert is on my list to interview this week and you can see why! If it wasn’t for women like her supporting women’s sports and bringing the sport into the arena for other women to enjoy, this post wouldn’t be inspiring other women today.
Monday’s for Women’s Rights and Equality Issues
Inspiration for women, feminists, women’s rights, women entrepreneurs, females
“If they don’t give you a chair at the table, bring a folding chair,” was a quote by Shirley Chisholm once said to inspire women to invite themselves to the tables where they weren’t allowed. Shirley knew what she was talking about. She was the first black woman elected to the United States Congress in 1968 completing seven terms. In 1972, she was the first black candidate for a major party’s nomination for President of the United States. Her quote was shared with women of all ages, backgrounds and professions at the start of Seneca Falls Revisited: Women’s Equality Weekend.
What I basked in most from the three day conference was the number of new women I met especially African American women. The conference was run by a team of dynamic, intelligent black feminists who welcomed me into their fold as a major sponsor and break-out presenter. I have always loved the energy of black women for reasons I do not know since I was brought up in a fairly white town surrounded by mostly Italian families. All I know is women of all ages intrigued me and probably not having enough African American women in my life made me appreciate them when I met them or learned from them.
I liked walking out of this event with a better understanding of the struggles black women faced because of both their color and sex. When white women have to worry about equality issues, black women still face discrimination on race and sex…not to mention age at times too. An female Indian presenter named Jenifer Rajkumar, a New York City politician, community leader and human rights lawyer talked about the importance of “getting in the room” and being part of the discussion if you aren’t invited based on who you are. As she reminded the crowd, Rosa Parks didn’t have to say a word, but she had to be on the bus sitting in a seat for people to take notice. Change takes practicing your activist voice and using your courage muscle.
“Step away and ask yourself what is most important to you and then create a vehicle to share it with other people,” said the last speaker of the day. Before I returned to work today, I sat near my pool meditating on the words I wrote down and the ones in my head still and created a new vision to wrap my passion for women in business, sports and equality into one larger entity so I can sit on that folding chair Shirley talked about flexing my courage muscle and using my activist voice to create as much positive change for women as I can in the areas of life that resonate with my pink spirit.
There is so much to do still to lift up women that each woman must listen to one or two equality passions that swirl inside their soul and commit to do something about it starting today! As an older woman told me, “women have had timelines forever and look where they have gotten us…not far enough to protect women’s unalienable rights.” What will you do to commit to positive change for women?
NOTICE: Every Monday, the Women TIES blog will focus on women’s equality issues or women’s rights. Every Tuesday, we’ll focus on Women in Sports and every Wednesday we will create posts on women in business and Thursday on life issues related to women or girls. Women TIES believes strongly in women supporting women in business, sports, equality and life. To submit an issue or question to have us focus on, send an email to this link. Thank you!
Wednesday Wisdom: Time to Transform
Wednesday Wisdom and inspiration for women entrepreneurs, female business owners, small businesses
New York State Dairy Princess Melanie Hector Adams era 1960s
I caught a quick glimpse of the butter sculpture for the 2018 New York State Fair beginning today. The media loves disclosing the image before thousands of people arrive to witness it themselves. They do it because everyone knows there will be a butter sculpture because it’s an iconic brand image of the annual event. Commercials leading up to the NYS Fair show cows, chocolate milk, horses, cotton candy, swirling rides, and so much more. They have done a great job branding the fair for years so people know exactly what they’ll get when they arrive.
Did you know, the New York State Fair was inaugurated on September 29, 1841? It is the oldest and one of the largest state fairs in the United States with nearly one million visitors annually. I suppose any entity can brand itself well after 177 years. Although the NYS Fair has been situated on the same acreage since 1890, when it found a permanent location in Syracuse, it has gone through transformation like many other entities when improvement was needed, to catch up with the times, or when emergencies occurred. For example between the years of 1942 and 1947, the fairgrounds were used as a military base during World War II and no fair was held.
So what does today’s wisdom on the New York State Fair have to do with you and your business? Transformation happens to women entrepreneurs just like it does for events like the NYS Fair. It also happens to long running organizations and sturdy structures. When women start their companies, they may construct a 3, 5 or 10 year business plan hoping the document will stand the test of time. As we know, nothing remains the same in life and business so we better be prepared with a Plan B or a transformational outlook to stay on track.
This fall as I return to work actively with Women TIES, I will be creating some events to help me learn what has transformed for New York State women entrepreneurs the past few years. I can’t depend on my old business plan to tell me what is happening in the marketplace and what services are needed most by women entrepreneurs 14 years after I started my company or even half a year from direct contact with my members due to my medical sabbatical. I need to know how they have been transformed by changes in their lives, business lives and marketplace impact.
As I re-enter the marketplace, I have been transformed from a healthy full head of hair and confident businesswomen to slightly less confident one with a lot less hair. The only thing that has not changed is my passion to help women. My feminist spirit has not changed course either so if there is any noticeable transformation about me besides my appearance, is my stronger pink heart and voice to raise women in all areas of life not just business. The outlets of support for women entrepreneurs have expanded greatly since 1995 when I started supporting women owned businesses. It’s okay to realize when change has happened and the need to transform to meet more or less marketplace demand.
Today’s Wednesday Wisdom should motivate you to think of ways you have transformed as an entrepreneur or how your company has transformed. Were the transformations difficult? Are you glad you made the transitions you needed? Are you still in the process of transformation and need help to move forward? We can’t do everything on our own even if we are intelligent and passionate; sometimes we need the guidance of other experts or time to ourselves to help in the change process. Their words and actions can illuminate the path we know lies before us.
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