Did you know that there are more than 9.1 million women-owned businesses in the United States in 2014? According to the National Association of Women-Owned Businesses (NAWBO), those companies employed nearly 7.9 million people in 2014. In short, the number of women-owned businesses is on the rise and while the reasons why women start their own businesses vary, one underlying … [Read more...]
Why you need a female mentor
There will always be people that teach you things, but the real things you need to know will come from your female mentors. I may get a little cheesy here, but bear with me. These people are the ones who will help you build your foundation and who will understand the guilt you feel, when you have to leave your kid at the babysitter for another meeting. They get it, they … [Read more...]
State of Women-Owned Businesses 2014 – Infographic
The 2014 State of Women-Owned Businesses Report has been released by the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) and Web.com Group, Inc. According to the report, nearly nine out of 10 women business owners (87%) are optimistic about the economic outlooks for their businesses this year, which is a 12% increase over 2013 findings. When asked what they consider to … [Read more...]
What are we afraid of?
Small business owners this is a hard truth to admit, but in order to grow we have to be uncomfortable. So I will do it, I will incur the wrath of my small business brethren and ask ‘what are we scared of?’ I admit to being in a much different environment, federal contracting is a whole different beast but the fundamental principles are the same. Why are we scared to … [Read more...]
Women Small Business Owners Use Social Media for Marketing More than Male Counterparts [Infographic]
New studies by Web.com, reveal the differences between how women small business owners use the web and social media to grow their businesses in comparison to male small business owners. Web.com first interviewed 3,000 consumers and small business decision makers to determine if there are gaps between the two groups related to small business perceptions. Interestingly, the … [Read more...]
Play Ball!
There is a theory out in the world of baseball that everything you need to know about life, you learn in the outfield. I think there is some truth to that. Baseball is a game of knowing when to swing, learning about the other team and waiting for the right time to steal the bases. Sounds an awful lot like business right? We all know that we have to be strategic and … [Read more...]
Buy and Get Out!
As entrepreneurs sometimes we get so preoccupied with making sales that we forget to take care of the customer. Sadly enough that seems to be the rule rather than the exception the bigger the company. I had one such experience with the vendor Verizon Wireless chose to insure their devices. My company moved to Verizon less than a month ago and as a consultant I get paid by the … [Read more...]
Marketing Your Company, Not You
As I stumble through this minefield of entrepreneurship, I have learned that there has to be a significant switch in your thinking. We start businesses for a variety of reasons, mostly because we are really good at something specific. What happens is that you quickly realize that you cannot be the person that runs the business and the person who does the work. There has to be … [Read more...]
For Love of the Game
This morning I had the privilege of attending an Executive Breakfast that focused on employee engagement and what that actually means. It was a timely discussion because I hear the phrase employee engagement in just about every explanation of what’s wrong with an organization. But what is it really? What does employee engagement mean and why is it important to your business? … [Read more...]
The Fine Line of Work-Life Balance [Infographic]
For most small business owners, there is no such thing as work-life balance. Did you know that 44% of small business owners believe that the stress of running their businesses has damaged their health? Did you know that one out of two small business owners only take major holidays off, and two out of three work more than 40 hours per week with one in 10 working more than 70 … [Read more...]