It’s no secret that you need capital to operate and grow, but then comes the question how do you get it? For some of the lucky ones they have the personal cash to use or they are able to tap well heeled friends and family for the money. For the unlucky ones, you need money to operate and grow, but where do you get it? Tap your community bank. An often overlooked … [Read more...]
Are They Contractors or Staff?
One of the more complicated tasks for a business owner is being able to correctly classify the people working for you. As a one man shop it it’s fairly easy, when you pull someone in it is a temporary arrangement. As a larger operation, it gets a bit tougher. The Department of Labor and the IRS have just made this issue more complicated. The Department of Labor and the IRS … [Read more...]
Women Entrepreneurs: Tory Johnson; Fired Up Rather than Fired From
Were you ever fired from a job? Just the thought is chill-inducing. Fired, it means failure, finished, foolish, and a lot of words that are meant to be esteem-downers. That’s how it was for Tory Johnson when she was a twenty something and on the rise in corporate America. Within one hour she had fallen from grace and was out on the street. Fast forward to today. Tory is a … [Read more...]
Are You On The List?
Forbes has named the World's Top 100 Most Powerful Women.... You may be shocked at some of the women included, some left out...and where they are all ranking. For instance: The President of McDonalds. The company and restaurant that children can spot from five miles away by the golden arches, just made the list at #92. Angela Merkel, German Chancellor, is #1 on the … [Read more...]
The Leper in the Room: Workplace Violence
As a business owner I have noticed that entrepreneurs talk about a range of topics and we share some pretty personal details; what doesn’t happen is the talk about violence. We speak about managing teams and dealing with problem performers, but we very rarely speak about what happens when those situations go horribly wrong. To get to the bottom of this I got some advice from … [Read more...]
Do You Expect Growth for Your Woman-Owned Biz?
According to a report on Inc.com titled, Most Female Owners Expect Business to Grow, four in five women hope to grow their businesses over the next two years. On a personal note, I really feel that the terminology given in this report is misleading. As a small business owner, if asked, "Do you hope to grow your business in the next two years"… of course I'm going to say an … [Read more...]
That Grand Lady at the Harbor
Ladies, let’s continue to celebrate our freedom by underlining the importance of The Statue of Liberty and the role of women in our society. In her poem about the statue, Emma Lazarus called it “The New Colossus”. The beginning of the poem refers to the Colossus of Rhodes which was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was a statue of the Greek God Helios, who, in … [Read more...]
Leadership and Feminism
In our recent GUTSY WOMEN LEADERS retreat I showed a video of Isabel Allende when she was a presenter at a TED conference. She is one of my favorite authors; her novels are filled with the depth of what life is all about; love, sorrow, misunderstandings, and the courage to change. She mentions a conversation she had with her daughter who stated emphatically that feminism is … [Read more...]
Can a CEO be brutally honest?
Can a CEO be brutally honest? Everyone from sales clerks to CEO’s have been talking about the ‘burning platform memo’ from Nokia’s CEO Stephen Elop. In the memo, Elop points out where the company is failing compared to its competitors and effectively asks what the staff plans to do about it. ( Read the full memo here, here.) In the memo, Elop takes a hard and critical look … [Read more...]
Increasing Market Profile With Women’s Initiatives
Women's Initiatives Focused on Business Growth Due to the challenging economy and increased focus on revenue generation and business growth the timing is right for women’s leadership initiatives to be a catalyst for increasing organizational market visibility. All corporate initiatives are called to directly support business strategy in the best of times and these are not … [Read more...]