“Women are underestimated powerhouses of an economy. This is not a fact that is relevant only to South Africa, but it is a global phenomenon. South Africa needs to not only build entrepreneurship, but to encourage and develop female business owners.
In fact, the number of such [referencing several different business owners in the San Jose, CA area] businesses in the United States has more than tripled since 1977 to 1.9 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2012 Survey of Business Owners, released last December. Of those, about 12,000 are in the Bay Area counties of Santa Clara, Alameda and San Francisco. Few other groups of minority women are starting businesses at a faster clip, according to the report, which is updated every five years.Black female entrepreneurs are determined to fill a neglected niche and choosing to invest in themselves.
Forecasts indicate that by 2018, there will be more than 9.72 million new small business jobs created and women are expected to create more than half of them. This is a remarkable increase since 2010, when women-owned businesses created only 16 percent of U.S. jobs.Our friend and colleague, Dr. Sharon Hadary (pictured), former executive director of the Center for Women's Business Research, said that successful women business owners tend to share some characteristics that set them apart.
My own father taught me to always be myself and to stand up for myself, which would teach people how to treat me.What did you learn from your father?
Dr. Firestone [as we know her] is a visionary who works tirelessly to bring together the best minds to inspire the members. She is very passionate about the quality of the organization and what it delivers.Read: Women Entrepreneurs Find Their Place Thanks to Dr. Marsha Firestone
There are about 40,906 women-owned companies in Philadelphia, according to the report, primarily in health care, construction, technology and staffing services.Learn more: Philly is a top city for women entrepreneurs: Small Business Trends Report Are you based in Philly? Consider WPO membership, for we have a chapter in Philadelphia.
Ochs gives some excellent insight into the advisory company’s business of working with real estate developers and corporate borrowers to mitigate interest rate risk since 1981 and explains how it functions as an extension of its clients’ treasurer or chief financial officer functions.Read: Q&A: Christina Ochs, Corporation for Interest Rate Management (requires free trial registration)
In a survey, participants read statements about a fictional employee “Sam[Sally]”—different groups read different statements about Sam[Sally] indicating how much self-control he[she] had (self-control was used as a proxy for competence). When Sam[Sally] was presented as someone with great self-control, participants expected much more of Sam’s[Sally's] performance at his[her] manufacturing job. In a separate experiment, undergrads were asked to delegate essays for proofreading to other students with varying levels of self-control. Unsurprisingly those with more self-control ended up with more work assigned to them.Read more: Being a go-Getter Is No Fun -- The Atlantic
From creating jobs to making capital investments and contributing to our local community, women entrepreneurs are an incredible force in today’s economy. As the number of women-owned businesses grows, there are more opportunities for women to succeed in business ventures today than ever before.Before you start your business, answering the four questions outlined in the following article will make the process smoother, less stressful, and go a long way towards ensuring your business thrives.
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| ©2016 Laurel J. Delaney. All rights reserved. |
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| ©Women Presidents' Organization. All rights reserved. |
Decision-making can’t be totally dependent on one person, as that person may not always be in the capacity to make the best decisions.What's a business owner to do? Develop a process and be systematic about it. After all, you want to not only scale your business for growth but also be able to take a vacation once in a while!
The Edward Lowe Foundation rocks but not just because they feature some of our WPO Chicago members on their website. (Yes, that's nice too!) Rather, it's because they offer a wonderful program for second-stage business owners that helps them create empowering workplaces.
Conducted among 2,600 entrepreneurs based in 18 countries, in Asia, Europe, and the United States, the study led by Scorpio Partnership reveals the emergence of a new generation of entrepreneurs under 35, "The Millennipreneurs."Read the entire article: Women Entrepreneurs Are 'More Ambitious and Successful' Than Men
Social media is where your customers are—shouldn’t you be there, too?Yes, Even CEOs Need To Use Social Media -- And They Need to Do It Well
Yes, you can go at it alone but that's no fun. At all. Especially if you own an online business, where you work from home. What we do know is: Together Everyone Achieves More.I can't help but think that's where the Women Presidents' Organization comes in handy too. We serve as the SQUAD -- helping women business owners stay on top their A-Game and be the best business owners possible.
The conference encourages WPO members to share business strategies and experience with other successful women from all over the world, as well as learn from interactive seminars and speakers. Additionally, it will provide potential members who qualify a unique opportunity to experience the impact the WPO has on women business owners professionally and personally.
Go for it! Surround yourself with people who will support you and encourage you to keep going. Be prepared to work harder than you ever thought possible but always remember what inspired you in the first place.And when you get the to the one-million dollar mark in revenues with your business (if it is service-based), the Women Presidents' Organization is just the support you will need so you will never feel alone with your challenges and can grow at a fast clip.
But before you start another year it’s time to do something you probably haven’t done for about 12 months: give yourselves a big pat on the back.Why? Because, he says, you deserve it. I agree.
When it comes to creativity, organizations are a lot like people. They have no problem generating ideas, including some that are potentially useful and novel. Furthermore, they are also generally able to access creative ideas generated by others. Where they fail, however, is at turning those ideas into actual innovations. Indeed, few creative ideas ever become innovative products or services.Read more: Maybe Your Team Doesn't Need to Be More Creative
Researchers found that seven of the top 10 metro areas for female business owners -- based on business climate, local economic health and financing opportunities -- are in California or Colorado.Read more: These are the top 10 metro areas for female entrepreneurs
In the beginning, that [asking a lot of questions] usually involves numbers. Most new entrepreneurs are salespeople with no background in accounting. They don’t understand the basics of finance. I find that women are open about this and are eager to learn. Of course, most of the men don’t have a very good grasp of the financials either, but they’re more likely to bluff, pretending they know more than they do.Read more: What male entrepreneurs need to learn from women
Overall, men owned more than half of the nation’s 27.6 million firms in 2012, according to preliminary results from the Survey of Business Owners, and women owned more than 9.9 million businesses, about 36% of the total. The remaining 10% of firms were either jointly owned by men and women or could not be categorized by gender because they were publicly traded companies or have large, diverse ownership groups.Read more: Businesses owned by women, minorities lag in revenue share
At my [Rene Paulson] own company, I have worked hard to transform a negative into a positive, channeling my RBF to improve my leadership and strategic thinking skills while also building my tolerance to stress (all personality traits researchers at Caliper, a talent management company, have found endemic among high performing women).Read more: Women with "RBF" are actually better communicators
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