Yesterday, The Chicago Network released its 2007 Chicago Network Census report, Women Mean Business.  The Chicago Network is an organization of the Chicago area’s leading professional women, and their annual Chicago Network Census report tracks the representation of women in key leadership positions (e.g., board members, executive officers and top earners) based on prior year proxy filings of the 50 largest publicly traded companies by revenue in the Chicago area (called ‘the Chicago 50′).  Over the ten-year time period The Chicago Network has been conducting the census, women have made strides in business, but the results show that growth is coming in baby steps. Continue reading »

Women Business Owners is a nonprofit organization dedicated to offering support, education, networking and more to women business owners throughout the world.  Women Business Owners also operates the WBO Grant Fund program to raise money for grants to be awarded to women in business.  The grants help women with educational costs to approved schools of higher learning including business schools, trade schools, colleges or universities (public or private) or related degree programs. Continue reading »

Sara Blakely was just 27-years old when she invented Spanx, and today, her company is worth $150 million with 55 employees and 100 products.  The newest product in the Spanx line, Bra-llelujah (a comfortable, hosiery bra), will hit stores in January 2008, and Sara’s company shows no signs of slowing down.

Two of the key things I always talk about on my marketing and branding blogs are common sense and starting with a good product.  Sara Blakely did just this as she built her Spanx business.  She had no business background, but she invented a product that she new was fundamentally good and fulfilled an existing need among consumers.  She trusted her gut, and persevered despite the challenges she faced. Continue reading »

I had the opportunity to write a guest blog for one of my favorite marketing bloggers, Drew McLellan at Drew’s Marketing Minute today. 

My post is called Is Demographic Segmentation Dead?, and it discusses the shift in marketing strategy from demographic segmentation and targeting to behavioral segmentation and targeting in the world of Web 2.0. 

Please take a look at my view on social web marketing and demographic segmentation.

There are a number of books on my holiday list this year including Basic Black: The Essential Guide to Getting Ahead at Work (and in Life) by Cathie Black, President of Hearst Magazines who publishes popular periodicals such as Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Harper’s Bazaar, Good Housekeeping and O! The Oprah Magazine.  Reviews have been extremely positive for Basic Black which provides useful business advice for women taken directly from Cathie Black’s experience  Continue reading »

Yesterday, I wrote a post about a new ad agency in New York City on my branding blog called Womenkind.  I also wanted to write about the agency here on Women On Business, because the agency’s unique business model focuses on women as consumers as well as women in business. Continue reading »

Yesterday, I published a post about the Wall Street Journal’s list of 50 Women to Watch 2007.  Today, I’d like to expand on that a bit by providing a recap of some of the books those women business leaders recommend.  Perhaps most interesting about the books recommended by these female executives was one specific title.  Seven of the women on the list of 50 Women to Watch recommended Good to Great by Jim Collins as a great lesson in business.  Good to Great discusses how companies move from being ‘good’ to being ‘great’ using hundreds of examples.  It’s definitely on my book wish list now. Continue reading »

Wall Street Journal released its 2007 list of 50 women in business to watch.  The list includes women from a variety of industries, which is great to see, but what I also found interesting was an article on the Wall Street Journal Online that provides an excerpt of an interview moderated by Wall Street Journal’s senior editor, Carol Hymowitz, and six women executives including: Continue reading »

Businesswoman blogger Darlene McDaniel wrote a great post on Interview Chatter this week that cites five things managers should look for when trying to find skilled people to help run their companies.  Of course, Darlene notes there are more than five things you should look for from prospective employees during the interview process, but she does a great job of highlighting some of the most important things to keep in mind. Continue reading »

Businesswoman blogger Maria Palma made an interesting suggestion on Customers are Always this week when she discussed Why You Should Take Your FAQ Page and Turn It Into a Blog.

In her post, Maria suggests that businesses consider changing the traditional “Frequently Asked Questions” page on their company websites into interactive blogs.  The advantages would be two-fold.  First, your company would join the online conversation thereby fueling social media marketing.  Second, your blog would be picked up by search engines, which could mean additional traffic for your site giving your company an opportunity to convert those browsing users into paying customers. Continue reading »