Article of Interest: Thought About Moving Your Business to An Urban Area?

If ever there were a consideration, now is the time to think about moving your business to an urban area. Why?

Goldman Sachs recently announced that it would provide $500 million in support for 10,000 small businesses, particularly those located in urban neighborhoods. A Who's Who of business leaders including the billionaire investor Warren Buffett and Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter have signed on the help.

But the person who will be responsible for running the initiative day-to-day is Dina Powell (pictured), a former State Department official in the Bush administration who worked with Karen Hughes on education and cultural issues. Powell joined Goldman Sachs in 2007, as the global head of corporate engagement. Her first task was to set up a program called 10,000 Women--an initiative to foster entrepreneurship among women around the world. The small business outreach effort will be modeled on that program.

Find out how the money will be spent by reading an interview conducted by Inc.com editor Mike Hofman with Dina Powell, the executive in charge of the program here.

Hint of how you get on the list:

Our criteria are that a business must have between $150,000 and $4 million in revenue, four or more full-time employees, and that it has been in operation for two years at a minimum.

News of Interest: Women Business Owners Have Huge Economic Impact, Study Finds

In case you did not know:

U.S. businesses owned by women have an economic impact of $3 trillion annually. That translates into the creation or maintenance of 16% of all jobs in the country, according to the Center for Women's Business Research. If U.S.-based women-owned businesses were their own country, it would have the fifth-largest GDP in the world.

A new study reveals the above and the economic impact of majority-women owned firms for the first time.

Download report here: Econimpactreport-final.pdf

A hat tip to Elisabeth Ritz, Ritz Communications, for letting us know about the study.

Resource of Interest: Choose Chicago

One of the points of interest we forget to blog about is our great city Chicago which many of you know is an incredibly delightful place to visit and conduct business.

Since we have so many WPO members in Chicago, we naturally assume you will be doing business with a few of them at some point or another. If you need specific introductions, drop me an email (refer to right sidebar of blog). Happy to oblige.

When you are ready to button down your schedule, explore Choose Chicago to make no small plans. We welcome your visit and look forward to connecting with you soon.

Pictured: Millennium Park sculpture.

Resource of Interest: 20 Tips for Best ROI in Social Media

Should ROI (return on investment) -- a very popular investment metric -- in social media be based on outreach efforts and bottom line profit results or based on a new ROI (return on influence) -- that of more a creative investment metric -- that you develop contingent upon your group of friends and colleagues?

You can decide here.

In the meantime, let us know how you measure success or what constitutes a win in your mind.

Resource of Interest: How Women Presidents Can Use Social Media

Here's a look at how smart companies, especially those run by women presidents like us, are using Twitter and Facebook to get ahead.

• Social Media Beachcombing: Survival of the Twittest?

  Twitter and other social media are quickly entering the mainstream, but it will be years before we see which innovations will endure.

• Slide Show: CEOs Who Use Twitter

  Dozens of CEOs who find Twitter to be a personal and professional delight. Here's how they use the service, and who they like to follow.

• A Twitter Code of Conduct

  To prevent information leaks and other liabilities, companies are drafting guidelines for social media interaction. A rule of thumb: Don't be stupid.

• Keeping Momentum in Social Media

  A few simple steps can keep employees involved in a company-sponsored social media platform long after the excitement of the initial launch.

• Starting a Corporate Social Network? Don't

  Save your company's cash. Leveraging Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter is fast, easy, and free.