One Woman at a Time
Inspiration for women, women entrepreneurs, and females
The powder blue sky is just appearing at dawn, light silver clouds dot the sky and the air is quiet. It is a welcomed still morning in an ever churning world in America right now. As I sit typing before I head out to my last of 8 events in New York State for women entrepreneurs, I am grateful for the peace of this moment. I know soon I will be in a fully energized room of women making a difference in the world.
I am also grateful for the lack of TV media blaring from my electronic devices. I turn on an Oprah and Deepak Chopra meditation instead. Roses grace my desk along with my statues of Mother Mary and St. Teresa the Flower Child of Jesus. Next to them is a family photo of myself, husband and two sons at a Dave Matthews Band Concert joyfully sipping drinks out of orange solo cups. This is the way to start a good day – silence, beauty and love with anticipation of friends, learning and positive conversations.
I take time to listen, write and think before I venture out because I want to be my best self to the women I serve and the controversial conversations that might arise in the energy of the post election. I’m ready to fight for my girls and females everywhere if I have to. Beneath the calm, yoga essence of me is the fight of tiger just like in Katy’s Perry song. Tenacity has always been my strong suit and I will need it to keep fighting for female causes especially those important to women entrepreneurs.
So today I suggest before you head out the door to fight the good fight – whatever that fight is for you today – take a moment to take a breath, get centered, collect your thoughts, balance your energy, pray, listen to music, eat healthy food, read inspirational pieces that fuel you to lead with all you are. Women are blessed with both quiet strength and the force of the universe. Let’s use both to change the world today, one woman at a time.
Wisdom Post-Election: It’s What is Inside that Matters Most
Wisdom Post Election for Women and Small Business Owners
The swirling hot coffee steam arising out of a cup swaddled by a blurry eyed morning riser who just needs a jolt to start her day is a comforting image. Most of us cannot start our day without the aroma, flavor and energy of a good cup of java. It is a quintessential daybreak scene in most households or business offices. How could this jewel of the morning ever cause controversy?
When Starbucks changed their iconic plain red cup with green logo for the holidays a couple years ago to a cup with images of snowflakes, winter scenes, ornaments and Christmas trees, the company received flack in the marketplace on changing their brand image on their traditional cups. Just a day ago when this corporate giant decided to change back to plain red holiday cups and a traditional blend on behalf of its employees who are from diverse ethnic backgrounds who all represent the company, they are already receiving anger from conservatives who believe Starbucks is moving away from a traditional Christian theme. We understand as women entrepreneurs sometimes we win and sometimes we lose with public opinion.
To be honest with you, I don’t have an opinion on what should be on the outside of a coffee cup, I care about the quality of the taste of what is inside. I find it hard to believe the public can be so judgmental about a corporate design on a popular coffee company’s cup but that seems to be the ‘flavor’ of the day. I think the bigger lesson in the story is about how much our customers’ opinions should influence our corporate decisions.
In a world that has become so divided suddenly in the wake of the election, isn’t what’s important the people you are meeting with over coffee whether it is your beloved family, best friends or valuable clients? Besides the thrill of smelling the coffee and having the steam liven up the dawn, why does the emphasis have to be on the criticism of a coffee cup design more than the bonding of the people joined together to enjoy it?
As Thanksgiving approaches and we find ourselves around tables, counters and coffee machines in our own houses with the ones we love most around us, let’s remember it isn’t hard to bring that same feeling of warmth and joy into the workplace and community. Instead of staring at the coffee cup of someone who is drinking alongside you, take a moment instead to stare in their eyes, enjoying their presence.
Today’s Wednesday Wisdom blog post is to remind you that as business owners and as women in general, we have the ability to lead conversations with love, to bring our families together and to thank our clients for their business. We mustn’t let a rough time in our current America make us bitter or worried about the conversations at the table just like we shouldn’t worry about the design on the coffee cup. It is what is inside that matters most today, at Thanksgiving and always.
Gratitude from Hillary Clinton to Volunteers
As a member of Hillary Clinton’s Women’s Outreach Committee, which I have been on since mid June receiving phone calls every Friday on updates happening in the campaign, important ways we could volunteer or support her and receiving news on important issues, I was privy to one final call tonight from Hillary to the committee. I promised my Women TIES members who supported her that I would share her sentiment with them and other women as well. These are my comments on the phone call:
Hillary sounded very tired as you can imagine but I thought it was wonderful for her to find time to thank the women on this committee. Please feel free to share this and tell women to join us at next week’s Women TIES Syracuse Event or to send me their email for our “equality mailing list.” We are working on plans to go to Washington on January 21st to march in peace and solidarity with a million other women…….Here is what Hillary shared on the call:
“I wanted to tell you how grateful I am to talk to you. In so many ways you are the heart and soul of this campaign. You didn’t just talk the talk, you embodied them. You left it all on the field for me and our cause. I hope you find time for relaxation since this is a hard loss for all of us.
Your work still matters. I hope you take time to regroup. It is important you understand there is a lot to be done. But take some time for yourself. You have worked hard.
It is a tough time in our country right now but we need to reach out to each other. It looks like we had the largest popular vote of any election and that will have a lasting impact.
It is a hard loss but we need to support the causes that are most important to us. Its about coming together. Whatever cause made you an active volunteer in this campaign find like-minded people willing to work with you and continue the work.
You represent the best of America. Remain full of passion and energy until our next venture. I believe in you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
Hillary
I pledge to continue my “pro female” passion for women in business and women in general and invite any woman reading this message who wants to join to click on this link and leave us your email address Women TIES to stay connected to work towards equality for women. I will continue my 22 year leadership to the cause of supporting, promoting and uniting women. I hope you join me if this is one of your causes. If it is not, pick the cause closest to you and keep working on it. Together we can all change the world for the good.
In entrepreneurial and pro-female spirit,
Tracy Chamberlain Higginbotham
Women TIES, LLC and Women’s Athletic Network
A Timeline to Destiny
A Timeline for Destiny for Women, Women Entrepreneurs, New Suffragetts
This is a different blog post than usual but if you read the three previous posts you will understand why we needed this blog space to post this timeline and allow you to get involved further with Women TIES and our mission of “Women Supporting Women: Business, Sports, Equality and Life.” Please read the entire way through and you will see why.
March 3, 1913 the date for the first suffragist parade in Washington, D.C. Organized by the suffragist Alice Paul for the National American Woman Suffrage Association, thousands of suffragists marched down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. The march was scheduled on the day before President Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration to “march in a spirit of protest against the present political organization of society, from which women are excluded.”
March 3, 2005 Women TIES, LLC was created with a mission to promote, publicize and unite women entrepreneurs across New York State to help them brand their name, increase their chances for sales and help eradicate pay inequality.
March 6, 2015 the first time I entered the Women’s Right Park in Seneca Falls to accept a prestigious Makers Award. The speaker at the award ceremony was a woman impersonating Elizabeth Cady Stanton. She seemed to be staring right at me. I didn’t know why. I turned my head an in the corner saw a flag with the date “March 3.” I remember looking back in slow motion at Elizabeth Cady Stanton with goose bumps realizing I had created Women TIES on March 3, 2005. I rushed home to discover this historic date in history of the first suffragist parade in Washington DC.
October 1, 2015 – the 7th Annual “Inspiring Success – The Women TIES Retreat” with opening speaker the woman impersonating Elizabeth Cady Stanton. It was my first step out into a new light of shining moments on our foremothers and their movement.
November 7, 2015 – I watched the movie Suffragette on my birthday. I was so moved by the movie I cried, cheered and left a deeper color of pink embracing fully my new feminist color and voice. If our foremothers could do something for our generation, I sure as hell was going to do something for ours I said out loud “I want to be a new suffragette.”
May 7, 2016: A team of 18 women joined me through our Women’s Athletic Network division in Seneca Falls for the first 19K Right to Run Race to support our foremothers and building a national women’s hall of fame museum. I created a new message for Women TIES to put on the race shirts – “Women Supporting Women: Business, Sports, Equality, Life.” I still didn’t know what I was going to do with the new mission until today.
October 7, 2016: I attend the New York State Suffrage Centennial Conference in Seneca Falls and learn plans for New York State to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of New York Women’s Right to Vote throughout all of 2017. I sign up to be involved.
November 8, 2016: 2 days after my 52nd birthday I vote for Hillary Rodham Clinton to be President of the United States.
23 Mar 2015, Washington, DC, USA — Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton takes part in a Center for American Progress roundtable discussion on “Expanding Opportunities in America’s Urban Areas” in Washington. — Image by © Brooks Kraft/Corbis
“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. Now is the time. Now is the time. Now is the time. Join me.”
November 11, 2016: I hear about the Million Women March on D.C. and learn from members interested in attending.
November 12, 2016: Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s 101st Birthday
November 16, 2016: I will host an event for women entitled “Big Goals” and part of that program will be talking with women who attend about getting involved with the Million Woman March on D.C. on January 21, 2017.
Is all of this fate or coincidence? I choose fate. I know it is fate. I ask you to join me if you are interested in furthering issues for women including equality in business, sports and life. Sign up for the event today on the link below.
If you can’t make the Syracuse event, send me your email address at womenties33@gmail.com and we will put you on our “Equality” mailing list. Please tell women you know about getting on this new mailing list too. Not all future emails from Women TIES will be on equality issues so if you want to be involved with that part, email us. We will be doing information sessions around our NYS regions in December so stay tuned to our website.
Women TIES remains dedicated to supporting women in business first and foremost but we will also be expanding out outreach to support women in sports, young women and more. Now is the time. Now is the time.
Today is a Day to Blossom Women
Inspiration for women and women entrepreneurs
I closed my eyes last night with images of people in our America standing up for their rights. My youngest brothers and sister, who were Bernie Sanders fans, have risen up in protest to Donald Trump as President. They are 15 years my junior but have the same spark of tenacity for acting on their passionate beliefs. They believe in equality across the board for all races. My heart sung with proud vibes for their passion to their causes.
As I drifted off to sleep, I reminisced about the painful conversations I had throughout the day with women in my group who were so disappointed with the election outcome. Many of them had the same hope I had of a new tomorrow with a female president at the helm. My conversations with them were also about gathering together and creating a new forum to support more female candidates and women’s rights. A couple of them are hosting house parties to start the conversation. I will proudly attend them in support.
This morning I awoke to a popular quote from one of my Women TIES members thanking me for my words of wisdom on the election. The quote reads, “And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” by Anais Nin. The quote is a perfect one for anyone ready to rally for their own sense of injustice in this world. It is painful to rally. It is also painful not to do anything and feel helpless. We must rise to the occasions in our life when it matters – when we are pulled by both our heart strings and intellect. We do it peacefully. We do smart. We do it alone and together; but we do it.
My company’s new mission came to me after running one afternoon this summer. I didn’t know then what it really stood for until this morning. Women TIES new mission is “Women Supporting Women in Business, Sports, Equality and Life.” I will apply for a nonprofit status soon so I can build an organization of women who will help me in each of these special areas to change the world for women now and in the future. I will keep the images of my five nieces with me when the road gets tough with this project. I will do it smart. I will do it alone and yet together with my female friends.
Today is the day for you to ask yourself, “Is today the day when the risk to remain tight in a bud is more painful than the risk it will take to blossom?” I wear my purple and yellow button with Susan B. Anthony’s quote on it, “Failure is Impossible.”
In the Powerful Words of Elizabeth Cady Stanton – A Must for the Post Election Period for Women
These very meaningful words said by Women’s Rights Activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton popped into memory a few minutes ago after watching Hillary Clinton’s speech. These are words Elizabeth spoke,
“I urge the young women especially to prepare themselves to take up the work so soon to fall from our hands. You have had opportunities for education such as we had not. You hold today the change-ground we have won by argument. Show now your gratitude to us by making the uttermost of yourselves and, by your earnest, exalted lives secure to those who come after you a higher outlook . . . a larger freedom.”
After speaking with many of my Women TIES members this morning upset by the 2016 Presidential Election results, answering emails, posting inspirational words and answering questions from my sons who don’t understand what went wrong with the vote, I turned on Hillary’s speech. I knew what my reaction would be since I watched her “Glass Ceiling” speech in 2008 when I supported her run for President. The only thought that struck me was the fact that a woman holds the female qualities of warmness, empathy, and love, that could make America “great”.
Women have an ability to make others feel better about themselves. It is a reason I have led the charge of supporting women entrepreneurs and uniting them across New York State for 22 years. Women love supporting women. I think that is what is so shocking about the results today, not enough women believed in supporting another female. We know each other. We get who women are. We should have trusted that a “female led” world could calm the anxiety of today’s problems. A motherly approach to dealing with tough times is an asset not a detriment to society.
I have pledged a stronger more feminist approach to my work starting today. No longer will I keep my strong believes and support for all things women silent or small. It is time to live up to the work our fore mothers started and for women to lift women in all aspects of life. Today is the perfect day to begin a new legacy.
Business wisdom, inspiration and insight for women the day after the Election
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 until I could turn my feeling of defeat into swift, raw passionate action to rally myself again. It happened once when a doctor informed me I was going to be fully bald within a month due to the illness alopecia. I cried 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.
The conversation will start in Albany this Thursday and into next week in Syracuse and Binghamton at our events. I hope you sign up to join me if you didn’t plan on coming or didn’t register yet. I really want you there. Please come.
Today’s Wednesday Wisdom is to simply tell you that this moment is the start of a new page in our herstory. Now is the time. Now is the time. Now is the time. Join me.
Tomorrow is Going to Be Different. Carrying the Torch Forward.
Wisdom and inspiration for women and female entrepreneurs
It’s amazing what a new day brings to the hopes of people. This morning as the sun rose on the eastern horizon with gold leaves shimmering in the warm November wind, I felt a surge of positivity brew inside me right next to the hot pot of water on the stove. The red tea pot couldn’t contain the steam from the water ready to escape its containment and either could my own energy. It was Election Day – an election day with a woman running for President of the United States. The very pink feminist spirit inside of me seeped out and intertwined with the tea pot vapors.
My first stop in my day’s journey was the white church where I would cast my historic vote. I’m known as someone who always “votes pink” for as many women as I can on the ballot no matter what their party to get more women in politics making decisions. Today’s “pink vote” was extra special. It was as if time stood still Elizabeth Cady Stanton was standing with me in the voting booth whispering in my ear. I felt her beam for the work she and other foremothers did for not only today’s vote but almost one hundred years of votes for women in New York State. What a magnificent legacy to leave.
The next stop on my Election Day stops was at an event I was holding in Rochester, New York, not too far from Susan B. Anthony’s grave site. I heard it had been full with women putting “I voted” stickers on her grave. So many women were there the national press covered it. Can you just imagine what Susan thought looking down today? I hope she was beaming too.
As the women who left my event left with yellow, white and purple beads and bracelets to represent the colors of the first Women’s National Party and a gift from me to them, we stopped to grab a photo together. The photo represents the women who voted today in hopes of the first female president of the United States to finally, finally be elected.
The hope is the energy that filled that room. Hope is the steam that came out of us today. Hope is what women dream of for a brighter more equal future for themselves, their sisters and daughters. It starts today. It won’t end tomorrow. We are too far on our way to ever go back. We can look back and thank Susan and Elizabeth but we must look forward and carry the cross and pledge to continue their work in the names of the women and girls to follow us.
Tomorrow is going to be different!
When Old Forms of Communication Lead to Success
Sitting in a warm sun filled room on a cool Tuesday morning with 20 women business owners from our state’s capital, the vineyards south of Syracuse, the quaint village of Clinton and western Rochester, the air was filled with conversation, laughter, business sharing and fresh cooked Crème Brule desserts to be served after a hardy salad entrée. Water glasses were full of cucumber and lemon tinged water to quench our thirst. Pink index cards were waiting for goals to be written on them so I can take them to Boston with me in April next year as I run a 26.2 mile distance.
After reading that paragraph could you transport yourself into the space and “story” of yesterday? The point in writing the first paragraph was not to have you pining to be at the event but to deliver a story that transfers you into my story from yesterday. Yesterday’s presenter Anne Notarthomas of eKamria told us, “We need good stories to change someone else’s story and to invite them into a place where they pay closer attention and trust us.” By doing this in our marketing pieces, we can sell what we offer better.
One of the reasons I think women love this Wednesday Wisdom is because I have a creative way of pulling people into stories I tell each week that fill them with awareness, lessons and solutions to their entrepreneurship lives. The gift of creative writing wasn’t something I learned overnight, it has been a practiced skill used to enhance communication with my followers, increase my marketing reach and share my knowledge with others. By transporting my customers into my business story showing pain points and resolutions, I pull them in, allow them to live within my situation and then leave it with answers to similar problems they face.
Writing, blogging, and great communication are vital in today’s quick email/text world. As much as technology wants to change us or speed up our mode of communication, we are still humans with an interest in reading, learning and talking to others. It’s why storytelling in marketing, blogging regularly and communicating with customers in more personal ways are the avenues to success as a woman entrepreneur.
Today I want to remind you of the art form of writing and sharing your gifts with your customers through written word. If you aren’t blogging, you are missing out on the pleasure of writing a couple times a week, sharing your message in story form and increasing your outreach. If you only rely on text or phone messages to connect with important people in your business life, you are missing the gold at the end of a personal meeting. If you avoid events because they take up too much time, you are losing the ability to connect one-on-one with another woman to open up a new relationship that matters.
Accept invitations to events. Learn more about blogging. Commit to writing more. Go back to the old form of communication to open your door to new people. If you do, you might find yourself in an upcoming event with me in a room full of warm, smart women enjoying an afternoon of business wisdom. Put yourself in the story – especially our story.
Succinct Marketing Statements Count
Advice for women entrepreneurs and female business owners
I sat in a winged back paisley chair facing another one occupied with a lovely woman with a British accent. I wondered where this complimentary 20 minute marketing discussion was going to go. Her first question out of the gate was, “Tell me the mission of your company in 15 seconds.” As I spoke her crystal blue eyes looked slightly confused. I thought I nailed the mission statement my intern and I had worked on diligently for a couple days in our office. My new British friend did not think so.
“Say it again Tracy but in a more simple sentence,” she said. Okay I responded, “I help women entrepreneurs increase their revenue potential by allowing them to use my 20 year marketing platform.” Her crystal blue eyes just stared at me intently and then I heard, “That was better. Remember to keep it simple and concise so people understand immediately what you can do for them.” Her cool stare alone imprinted that statement in my mind.
Women entrepreneurs love to embellish their mission statements because it’s the way we converse. I’m guilty of adorning my written and spoken words with descriptions to provide emotion. I learned from my British friend not to emote your simple mission statement. It should be delivered succinctly, concisely and quickly. There is no room for mumble, jumble language in your corporate statement.
Later in the conversation she asked me to elaborate on my current “Point of View” (or POV) on a woman possibly being elected President of the United States so I could get some national media attention. I delivered it succinctly. I had learned in this 20 minute session I better deliver my POV precisely too. As she complimented me on the delivery she said, “Save storytelling for other parts of your marketing but never in your introductions or POV statements.”
As I walked away feeling slightly scorned, considerably enlightened and grateful for the 20 minute crash course, I realized it is impossible to know enough about a business subject. I consider myself a marketing expert in many ways but this experience demonstrated I still need to keep learning.
Today’s blog is to remind you that you do not know everything there is to understand about certain business topics even if you think you do, that’s why it is essential to keep learning. Whether you sit down with an English woman for 20 minutes, attend one of our educational programs for two hours or listen to a tutorial online for an hour, realize there is always more to learn in business. There is deeper content to contemplate.
If you don’t know where to look for education, Women TIES has a full list of interesting marketing topics in November including one on “Storytelling” next Tuesday in Utica, “Financing Your Business” in Rochester on the 8th, “Blogging” in Albany on the 10th, landing a national Ted Talk in Syracuse on the 16th and updated tips on Social Media Marketing in Binghamton on the 17th. Come out. Learn. Listen. I bet you walk away like I did from that paisley chair grateful for being enlightened.
Women TIES 