Monday, June 28, 2010

Event of Interest: Edward Lowe Foundation at Big Rock Valley

Having just completed an enlightening business leadership retreat at the Edward Lowe Foundation (ELF) with WPO Chicago downtown III chapter members, it only seems fitting to bring attention to what ELF at Big Rock Valley is most known for: helping business owners reach second-stage growth.

How do you define second-stage growth?
Second-stage companies are those that have grown past the startup stage but have not grown to maturity. They have enough employees to exceed the comfortable control span of one owner/CEO and benefit from adding professional managers, but they do not yet have a full-scale professional management team.

A business typically begins to enter its second stage when it approaches $1 million in total receipts. The transition process can continue until it hits $100 million in receipts, although for most companies $50 million represents the upper limit of second stage. By $100 million, a firm will have to be professionally managed in order to continue to thrive and grow and be in its third stage of development. Employee numbers and revenue ranges vary by industry, but the population of firms with 10 to 100 employees and/or $750,000 to $50 million in receipts includes the vast majority of second-stage companies.

Beyond this, there are other signs that indicate to a CEO that second stage is at hand.

Read about them here.

Where is your business at? What have you done lately to take yourself out of your business and reflect on "next-level thinking" with your peers?

Photo credit: Laurel Delaney, WPO Chicago Chapter Chair

Monday, June 14, 2010

Article of Interest: How to Create an iPhone App for Your Business

Let's face it, we all like to stay ahead of technology plus save money at the same time. Here's a nifty little article, "Why and How To Create an iPhone App for Your Business," that helps you understand the power of providing a useful service to your customers. Remember it all starts with a good idea.

Read more here.

Related resources:

Monday, June 07, 2010

Event of Interest: The Senior Businesswomen's Forum

On June 3rd, many of us from WPO Chicago had the great pleasure of attending Foley & Lardner's event, "Getting Your Message Out In An Over-Messaged World," -- hosted by Miki Vucic Tesija (pictured and a WPO Chicago downtown I chapter member) and Mary Kay Matire, partners at Foley & Lardner Chicago office. They were responsible for the content of this program along with co-sponsor Huron Consulting Group.

We heard from award-winning journalist Anne Kavanagh and award-winning producer Maria Dugandzic on how to make yourself heard in a world consumed with noise.

Foley & Lardner is a national sponsor to the Women Presidents' Organization and also hosts our WPO Chicago downtown II chapter meetings. We are very proud of this amazing relationship -- so "thank you" to everyone at Foley & Lardner for your continued support to the WPO! We appreciate it.