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?

The Women’s President’s Organization (WPO) doesn’t consider itself a networking group but rather a group that offers useful programs to its members, including seminars, podcasts, meetings and conferences.  The Women’s President’s Organization is made up of an elite group of female entrepreneurs.  To become a member, the applicant’s company must have a minimum revenue of $1 million for a service company or$2 million for a consumer products company.

There are currently 75 WPO chapters throughout the United States and Canada and over 1,000 members.  New chapters are in the works with international chapters coming to Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom.  The first international chapter is already operating in Peru.

You can follow the link to read about the member benefits of the WPO.  It sounds like an interesting organization for successful female entrepreneurs.  What do you think?

Martha Stewart’s “Dreamers into Doers” contest is on for the second year in a row.  If you turned a hobby into a business or nonprofit, then you could win $10,000, a vacation at a Wyndham Resort and a trip to New York City to appear on the “Martha Stewart Show”.  Ten finalists will also get $1,000 each as well as a 1-week vacation to Puerto Rico.

All you have to do to enter is write a 250-word essay describing how you turned a hobby into a career, and submit your entry by July 11, 2008.

You can get all the details by following the link to the Martha Stewart contest page.  You can enter or nominate a friend through the contest web page.

Good luck!

I was lucky enough to get a copy of The Chic Entrepreneur from author Elizabeth Gordon, which I’m very happy to review here on Women On Business.  First, this book is written just the way I like books and how I like to write my own.  It’s very straightforward and easy to read.  Let’s face it.  Businesspeople are very busy.  Longwinded business books that are overflowing with jargon and buzz words are useless to me.  I don’t have time to sort through the BS to get to the meat of the book.  I find myself saying, “Just get to the point.”  The Chic Entrepreneur gets right to the point and delivers numerous specific and useful tips, suggestions and theories that readers can implement immediately - again, just the way I like it. Continue reading »

A survey of 1,200 women business owners conducted by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) discovered three interesting trends about female business owners.  According to a post on WomenEntrepreneur.com by Eva Gumpel, women business owners are going green, going global and giving back to their communities (dubbed the 3 ‘G’s by Eva).

The survey found that:

• 25% of women business owners are taking their businesses to international markets.
• 71% of women business owners are actively making their companies greener (by changing their products or their company policies).
• 53% of women business owners are giving 1%-5% of their profits to philanthropic causes.

Way to go ladies!

Bridget Wright from BizChicksRule was kind enough to ask me to write a guest post that she published today. 

The post is called 5 Steps to Branding Your Business, and it’s meant to help business owners and marketers understand the steps to take to begin developing a brand strategy, including a brand position and image, for their companies.

If you have a few minutes, please stop by BizChicksRule to read 5 Steps to Branding Your Business as well as some of the other great content Bridget and her fellow blogger, Kristen King, publish for b5media.

Yahoo! Small Business is teaming up with Carolyn Kepcher (the ex-judge from “The Apprentice”) to help businesswomen, “who have the next breakthrough idea or a new small business.” If you think you have the next breakthrough idea or business, then you can apply for a chance to win one of three finalist grant prizes through the Empowering Women Entrepreneurs contest.

The Empowering Women Entrepreneurs finalist prize incluces:

• $20,000 cash grant to jumpstart your business
• Mentoring from Carolyn Kepcher and other business leaders and women entrepreneurs
• Up to $5,000 in free technical services to help the winner develop a website
• Free Yahoo! web hosting services for two years
• Promotional support from Yahoo! and Carolyn Kepcher’s fwm (Finding What Matters)

The three winners will then have a chance to use their new financial, technical and mentoring support. Yahoo! Small Business, fwm and the public will evaluate what each business does and the finalist whose business grows the most after six months will win the grand prize.

The Empowering Women Entrepreneurs grand prize includes:

• $10,000 more in cash
• More mentoring services from Carolyn Kepcher
• A trip to New York City to meet Carolyn Kepcher and Yahoo! executives
• Media support to give the winning business more press

Sounds like a great opportunity. Think you’ve got what it takes? Why not give it a shot? You can apply and get more details on the Empowering Women Entrepreneurs web page. You can also read the official rules here.

Good luck!

Tags: Carolyn Kepcher, fwm, Yahoo, Yahoo small business, empowering women entrepreneurs, small business grant, women business owners, women in business, women on business, women small business, female entrepreneurs

Amy Abrams and Adelaide Fives opened In Good Company Workplaces in September 2007. The company provides workspaces to women in business in Manhattan using a unique business model.

Rather than simply renting a space of their own, women business owners can sign up for an annual membership with In Good Company Workplaces then pick and choose the types of services they need through a variety of membership plans. Continue reading »

Heidi Richards from Virtual Woman’s Day (and founder and CEO of the Women’s Ecommerce Association International - WECAI) is hosting a Virtual Woman’s Day Celebration on March 14th and 15th. The event will take place online through a series of showcase presentations, networking opportunities and more.

You can learn more about the event and how to sign up by following the link above, or you can view the schedule on Virtual Woman’s Day.

Presenters include Lisa Moren Bromma from Wise Women Investor who I just featured earlier this week in Women’s Words Weekly!

Tags: women in business, businesswomen networking, WECAI, virtual woman’s day, online business training, women on business, women entrepreneurs

Donna Maria Coles Johnson of Indie Business Media LLC wrote a great post on her blog, Indie Business Blog, today called Top 10 Small Business Administration Website Links.

If you’ve ever tried to navigate the internet to find resources and information to start a business, then you know it can be overwhelming and like finding a needle in a haystack. Donna mapped out links to learn a lot of the basics in her post today from how to start a business in your state to financing and more. It’s worth reading and bookmarking for future use.

You can follow this link to read Donna’s full post: Top 10 Small Business Administration Website Links.

Tags: women business owners, female business owners, starting a business, Small Business Administration, business financing, women in business, businesswomen, women on business, female entrepreneurs