Time for another round of Women’s Words Weekly where I take a look at what businesswomen bloggers were talking about during the previous week.

Donna Maria Coles Johnson of the Indie Business Blog asks What’s Your Exit Plan? where she interviews a Kristen Fraser Cotte who shares her experience in creating a plan to exit her previous career to start a new business with her husband.

Darlene McDaniel of Interview Chatter gives us Social Networking - Secrets of the Job Hunt where she tells readers about a social networking website dedicated to job searchers.

Lisa Moren Bromma of Wise Women Investor shares Challenges Business Owners Face in Today’s Economy where she discusses the top 5 challenges business owners face regardless of size, industry or location.

Jean Murray at Small Business Boomers brings us Nightmare Employees - Some Scary Stories from Boomer Business Owners where she shares some amusing stories about true nightmare employees!

If you read Women On Business frequently, then you know that I blog about branding for a fairly new website, Corporate Eye.  It’s a great group of people and the company is growing quickly.  Currently, Corporate Eye is looking for two more business bloggers to add to the team.  These bloggers will be asked to write about Corporate Careers and Investor Relations.

Blogging is a great way to expand your online presence and further establish yourself as an expert in your field as well as to network with other businesspeople around the world.  If you’re a Corporate Career or Investor Relations expert, then you can follow the link to get more information about the Corporate Eye Blogger Jobs. 

Technorati Tags: Corporate Eye,Corporate-Eye,business blogging,blogging jobs,professional blogging,professional blogger,business blogger,career blogging,investor relations,women in business,businesswomen,women on business

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Last year, Advanta launched a website called ideablob.com where entrepreneurs and small business owners are invited to share their business ideas.  In simplest terms, users submit business ideas and community members give (and get) advice related to those ideas.  Each month, the community votes on the best idea, and the idea with the most votes wins $10,000 from Advanta.

This month, all eight finalists are women, which is very exciting.  The businesses include an afterschool science program, an eco-friendly women-owned clothing company and more.  If you want to vote for your favorite (or submit your own ideas), just visit ideablob.com, register and join the conversation.

I think this is a great idea, and I’m happy that Advanta isn’t burying the usefulness of the site in ads and marketing messages.  I’m certain they’re gathering user information and using it to market Advanta credit cards in some way, but I suppose that’s to be expected.  What do you think?  Have you used ideablob.com?

While women still make up the minority when it comes to holding executive business positions and a gender pay gap exists that is not going to close anytime soon, the media is starting to notice the value of women in business.  In 2008, several large media organizations have launched websites and magazines targeted to businesswomen.

Some of those sites include:

• Journal Women from the Wall Street Journal Online
• Forbes.com Executive Women’s Network coming soon from Forbes.com
• Paralelles.com, an online community for women business owners
• GlobalExecWomen.com
• WomenEntrepreneur.com from Entrepreneur.com

Sounds like a media bandwagon that more and more media outlets will jump on in the near future.  It’s about time!

Time for another round of Women’s Words Weekly where I take a look at what businesswomen bloggers were talking about during the previous week.

Melissa Seymour from Melissa Seymour Small Talk blog shares Small Business Start-Ups, a Sobering Reality where she quotes some findings from the New York Times but adds some hope to the disheartening results.

Allison Boyer at Greener Assets shares Green Flying Tips that will teach you how to be more eco-conscious on your next trip (for business or pleasure).

Celine Roque at Pimp Your Work asks What is a Productive Worker? where she shares a cool slideshow demonstrating that productivity should be linked more closely with results than hours clocked.

Liz Fuller of Business and Blogging asks Business Blogging - Is Your Blog a Failure?  where she shares information from an ezine article that can help you set reasonable expectations and goals for your business blog.

Mary Larsen from Your Design Biz Blog writes Focus, Focus, Focus! where she reminds us to ask ourselves what the tasks we do each day will help us achieve and how to better prioritize those tasks.

A study conducted by Bizjournals.com ranked 112 major occupational groups to determine where how those jobs sized up in terms of pay gaps.  The results paint a picture that is less than desirable for women in business.

Check out the top 10 most equitable occupation groups:

1. Dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers
2. Food preparation workers
3. Secondary school teachers
4. Cooks
5. Stock clerks and order fillers
6. Packers and packagers, hand
7. Bus drivers
8. Dispatchers
9. Combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food
10. Counselors

Now let’s take a look at the 10 least equitable occupation groups (with #1 in the following list representing the worst, or least equitable occupation group of all):

Continue reading »

Lilly Ledbetter was a manager at Goodyear Tire for 19 years.  During her tenure, she suffered pay discrimination constantly receiving smaller salary increases than her male colleagues.  Ledbetter sued and the jury sided with her, but the Supreme Court said she should get nothing (5 to 4 ruling) because pay discrimination claims must be made within 180 days after pay is set.  Supreme Court Justice Ruth Ginsberg dissented stating that most people don’t know their colleagues’ salaries.

In April, the Fair Pay Act reached the Senate (brought by Senators Edward Kennedy and Arlen Specter) that would change the 180 day time period to file a pay discrimination case.  Rather than 180 days from the time pay is set, the 180 day clock would restart with each discriminatory paycheck.

In response to the Fair Pay Act, Senator John McCain stated that what women really need to obtain equal pay is "training and education."  Suffice it to say, too many Senators held similar, disillusioned views, and the Fair Pay Act was not passed (it was just 3 votes short).

To help fight for fair pay, MomsRising.org has been collecting resumes from women to send to John McCain to demonstrate that the United States is filled with highly experienced and qualified women who deserve equal pay.  Today, women from MomsRising.org delivered 9,000 resumes to Senator John McCain in Washington, D.C. wearing sashes that said "Magnificently Overqualified Mother" and accompanied by television cameras from networks such as CBS and CNN.

Kudos to MomsRising.org for fighting this fight!

My first book, Harry Potter: The Story of a Global Business Phenomenon, was just released in the U.K.  by my publisher Palgrave Macmillan.  It won’t be released in the U.S. until August, but if you live in the U.K., you can get it through U.K. bookstores and websites now such as Amazon.

Harry Potter: The Story of a Global Business Phenomenon tracks the story of the business and marketing behind the Harry Potter brand, and asks the questions:

1. How did the Harry Potter brand become so successful?
2. Can the success of Harry Potter be duplicated?

The book includes case studies and theories discussing how Harry Potter reached global success and provides conjecture as to how other brands can follow in the same footsteps.  It really is an amazing business story, and I hope you give it a try and enjoy it.  You can read a sample chapter and check out the table of contents on the Palgrave Macmillan website.

Time for another round of Women’s Words Weekly where I take a look at what businesswomen bloggers were talking about during the previous week.

Melonie Murray at Workerette shares how Bold Moves = Big Rewards for women returning to the workforce.

Liz Strauss at A Successful Blog gives us The Ultimate Guide to a Blog Status Report where she shares tips for creating a blog status report that can be applied to any business activity to keep your team engaged.

Bridget Wright of Leader Notes asks Does Toastmasters Grow Leaders? where she discusses the value of the Toastmasters organization.

Elana Centor at Funny Business shares her Notes from the Road where she gives her humerous take on hotel rooms.

Lisa Moren Bromma at Wise Women Investor gives us The Secret Ingredient to a Successful Business Venture where she shares her take on the importance of people to business success.

PINK Magazine is hosting its fourth annual conference series for women in business.  Conferences will be held across the country with each featuring influential, female business leaders speaking over the course of a two-hour lunch.  Each session runs from 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m., and tickets cost $125.  You can follow the link to register for the PINK Conference Series.

Following is the schedule for the 2008 PINK Conference Series:

• September 24, 2008: InterContinental Chicago in Chicago Illinois
• October 1, 2008: Marriott Marquis, New York, New York
• October 3, 2008: Omni Mandalay Hotel at Las Colinas in Dallas, Texas
• October 10, 2008: Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C.
• October 14, 2008: Four Season in Boston, Massachusetts
• October 30, 2008: Omni Los Angeles Hotel at California Plaza in Los Angeles, California
• November 12, 2008: Omni Hotel at CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia

Following is the list of speakers scheduled for the 2008 PINK Conference Series:

• Carol B. Tome, chief financial officer and executive vice president of corporate sales, Home Depot Inc.
• Carol L. Bernick, chairman of the board, Alberto-Culver
• Lisa Ellis, executive vice president, Sony Music Label Group
• Donna Sturgess, vice president of innovation, GlaxoSmithKline
• Karin Gilford, vice president and general manager of Yahoo!
  Entertainment and Lifestyle
• Kelly Regal, executive vice president of human resources and corporate communications, Turner Broadcasting Inc.
• Joy Rothschild, senior vice president of associate services, Omni Hotels

Looks like a great line-up of speakers!  Have you attended one of the conferences in previous PINK Conference Series?  What did you think?