Are you a risk taker?
Many, if not most, male entrepreneurs will automatically answer “yes” to that question. For some women business owners, risk is a trickier concept.
I believe that in order to succeed in business—in business and in life—we need to take risks. As Mary Moody Emerson told her nephew Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Lift your aims. Do what you are afraid to do.”
Francine Katz is the highest-ranking woman at beer giant Anheuser-Busch.
As vice president of communications and consumer affairs, Katz oversees a group of 80 employees in departments stationed in St. Louis and across the country, managing all internal and external communications.
St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. is the leading domestic brewer, holding a 48.5 percent share of U.S. sales. Katz has served as corporate spokeswoman for the company for more than 15 years, appearing on national broadcast media and in major newspapers.
“My news media interactions have been high profile, and often in adversarial settings,” she said.
If your company sells green products or services, or in any way touts itself as green, you’ll want to hear this cautionary tale.
Entrepreneur Stacey Griffin’s Aqua2Go, a boxed water product, is selling well, in part due to the fact that Griffin promoted the product as more environmentally friendly than bottled water. But, as CNN Money Small Business reports, consumers found out the product’s packaging wasn’t quite as green as it had been portrayed. That has led to a bit of a backlash. Read the rest of this entry »
Mary Ann Lazarus had an interest in “green” building long before the recently renewed focus on the field. In fact, she took a class on the subject back when bell-bottoms and disco were in fashion.
Lazarus first came into contact with the concept of green building design in 1976 during class at Washington University. Now, as senior vice president and firmwide sustainable design director at global architectural firm HOK, Lazarus is tasked with integrating those design concepts into the company’s work.
Lazarus said that after 29 years with HOK, she has worked in almost every single position, from entry-level architect to author. In 2005, she co-wrote the “HOK Guidebook to Sustainable Design, 2nd edition,” a reference for green building integration that is used in college classrooms.
Lots of money has been made in the last few years by entrepreneurs offering products and services targeted to kids, which means they’re marketing to parents.
There are still a lot of opportunity in this market, but have you thought about marketing to people who don’t have kids? How does this make sense, you ask? Check out this site, Savvy Auntie.
Savvy Auntie says its target demo is PANKs– that stands for “Professional Aunts, No Kids”. But the site has information, articles, blogs and community areas targeted at “all women who love kids” — aunts, godmothers, grandmas and more.
Part-time or temp work is often thought of as Mom territory or, worse, the land of the less-committed employees. Truth is unconventional work arrangements are often an ideal solution for women trying to juggle demands of career and family. But they may do even more than that — like help you weather the current economic slump.
Case in point: When a company is forced to make layoffs, it often targets full-time employees to slash its most significant costs. Part-time and contract workers, on the other hand, are less expensive, offering more bang for the company’s buck. This can not only shield part-timers from layoffs, but also make them a very desirable option. In fact, while the economy may be slumping, the temporary and contract staffing industry appears to be on solid footing.
You are not alone. No entrepreneur is. We all have competition—and one of the keys to success today is taking on your competitors.
Sometimes, women entrepreneurs are at a disadvantage here, especially those of us who grew up before girls were allowed to play organized sports. Little boys who are raised on watching and playing competitive sports understand the killer instinct—kill or be killed.
While girls tend to be more collaborative, boys are taught early on (whether we like it or not) that it’s really not how you play the game, but whether you win or lose that counts.
In the past year, an informal coalition of more than 160 women business leaders in Kansas City has pressured lawmakers at the state and federal levels to see that legislation better reflects the interests of women business owners.
Area women business owners have never had a stronger voice, said Nancy Zurbuchen, co-founder and executive director of the Kansas City Council of Women Business Owners.
In January, Denise Farris traveled to Washington to testify before the House Small Business Committee. Farris, a lawyer with Farris Law Firm LLC, stated her opposition to rules attached to the Equity In Contracting For Women Act.
She contested the constitutionality of placing such a high legal standard on the legislation and questioned the wisdom of stunting opportunities for women-owned businesses.
Ann Sullivan, lobbyist for Women Impacting Public Policy, said Farris’ testimony, as well as the efforts by other local women business owners to reach out to leaders such as Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., made her job easy when it came time to kill the rule in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Where do great business ideas come from? Check out this cover story from OC Metro Business magazine, which profiles some fledgling female business owners. What really impressed me about these entrepreneurs’ stories was how they illustrate two things I’ve always found to be true about where ideas come from.
Two women started the Bountiful Baskets Food Co-Op not as an entrepreneurial venture, but as a way to get fresh food for their families.
Both Tanya Jolly and Sally Stevens have full-time jobs as mothers — each has three young children. But their volunteer leadership of Bountiful Baskets is just as demanding.
Neither is into titles, and both refuse to call themselves leaders. Instead, they say they just keep the ball rolling for the all-volunteer effort.
“This is our social experiment, so to speak,” Jolly said. “We are really getting this amazing sense of community, and it brings together people who wouldn’t see or meet each other otherwise. It’s just really cool.”