FYI: Activities Offered By The National Women's Business Council

Areas of interest and activities going on through the NWBC:

• NWBC Public Policy Web Cast
• Council Meeting
• USHCC Conference
• OPIC Global Markets Workshops
• Longaberger Interviewed in SCORE Newsletter
• New WOB Legislation
• Center Releases New Data
• National Preparedness Month

Check out further here: National Women's Business Council -- ENGAGE!

Sound Advice: Recommended Reading on Sales and Marketing

Most entrepreneurs recognize that marketing is integral to the success of their business. WSJ's StartupJournal spoke to Michael Port, 35, the author of "Book Yourself Solid: The Fastest, Easiest, and Most Reliable System for Getting More Clients Than You Can Handle Even if You Hate Marketing and Selling," for a list of his favorite marketing and sales books. Mr. Port says that he is surprised by the small business owners that he meets who don't read consistently.

"There is no better way to continuously invest in your professional development than reading," says Mr. Port.

Below are some of his top picks, comments on each and an understanding as to why we featured a picture of Elvis:

Top Picks

Thought Piece: Dream It. Do It.

You've come a long way baby and this thought piece will prove it. How many of you have gone from rags to riches by following your dream and doing something about it?

Take a peek at the childhoods of 14 self-made members of the Forbes 400 who did just that. Find out if your dreams, mistakes, routines and motivations are the same as these world elite entrepreneurs.

Read more here >> Secrets Of The Self-Made

Thought Piece: How Strategy Guru C.K. Prahalad Is Changing the Way CEOs Think

Against all logic.

Take a cab ride through Bombay, and these are the scenes that will likely strike you first: raggedly dressed homeless families sprawled on blankets amid shacks. Traffic hopelessly clogged with every manner of soot-belching vehicle and wooden cart. Gaunt hawkers and beggars tapping on your window at red lights. For foreign visitors, such jarring images of poverty and desperation are hard to shake.

View those same streets through the eyes of C.K. Prahalad, however, and they become a beehive of entrepreneurialism and creativity.

Read more >> Business Prophet.

Article of Interest: Origin of Million Dollar Ideas

Million dollar business ideas have no boundaries, age limits, race restrictions, time lines, or economic class. They can occur when you least expect them. And searching for the million dollar business idea is less a product of business planning and market research and more born from observation and frustration.

What else can we tell you? How about a big hint: The final and most important connection between a million dollar idea and a regular idea is the response of the marketplace. Even if others see it as a great idea, the consumer must want to buy it.

Read more >> here.

Event of Interest: WBDC's 20th Anniversary Conference (September 27-28)

Save the date: September 27-28, 2006 at Navy Pier in Chicago. To download the 2006 Conference brochure and to register, visit: Women's Business Development Center's 20th Anniversary Entrepreneurial Woman's Conference

The Women Presidents' Organization is a proud partner to the WBDC in Chicago. Please stop by our Booth No. 527. See you there!

Article of Interest: What Makes A Good Leader?

When discussing business leadership, the distinction between good management and good leadership is often made.

Managers are thought to be the budgeters, the organizers, the controllers — the ants, as one observer puts it — while leaders are the charismatic, big-picture visionaries, the ones who change the whole ant farm. But such a construction, those interviewed for this Harvard Business School Working Knowledge article agree, erroneously leads to a bimodal way of looking at something that should really be evaluated on two separate scales.

Read more ... here. And what do you think?

Happy Labor Day

Labor Day is a celebration and a tribute to the contributions of workers who have made our country stronger. Enjoy.

P.S. I took this photo near my home.