Featuring One Of Our Own: Joanna Sobran of MXOTech

We love to see great media features on our very own WPO Chicago members!  In this case, Joanna Sobran, founder, owner, president and CEO of MXOtech, one of Chicago’s few woman-owned tech companies, is interviewed by reporter Sandra Guy.

Read more:  Chicago Sun-Times Sunday Sitdown with Joanna Sobran

Screenshot courtesy:  Chicago Sun-Times

It's About the Ability to Execute on the Idea

What's the winning formula for business success?  According to Jewel Burks (pictured), co-founder and CEO of Partpic, “It’s about the ability to execute on the idea.”

For example, in her case, she first spotted a need: Way back when, she managed customer service for a parts distributor and dealt with the calls from frustrated customers who had been sent the wrong part or couldn’t identify the part they needed because the product name or number was partially rubbed off.

The rest is history.  Partpic was born and now that the software is developed, Burks has filed patents.

Read more:  The Nuts and Bolts of Scaling a Company

12th Annual WPO Chicago Summit 2015: You Must Be a Member to Join Us!

If you are interested in becoming a WPO member and joining us for the Summit, please contact Laurel Delaney.

How Do You Achieve Fast Revenue Growth With a Business?

Anjie Cayot, Laura Kelly, Cindy Rockwell and Chandler Cayot (Chandler not pictured) started Keyot, a hybrid name of Kelly and Cayot, in 2008.  Keyot was born in Kelly’s Woodbury basement with a mission to help businesses grow and innovate.

Kelly, 51, and Cayot, 46, joined by two female partners, were honored earlier this year for building one of the 50 fastest-growing women-owned businesses by the Women Presidents’ Organization. Keyot expects to gross about $19 million this year from the work of about 115 employees and consultants.

Find out how (and why) they got started and how they achieved such fast growth:  Keyot founder, former corporate warrior, sets independent course at female-owned firm

Green and Clean: Jelmar LLC

Becoming more environmentally friendly is an initiative Alison Gutterman (pictured), President and CEO of Skokie, Illinois-based Jelmar LLC, spearheaded in 2006 for her company.  You might recognize two of Jelmar's more famous brands:  Tarn-X Tarnish Remover and CLR brand of calcium, lime and rust remover.  Today nearly 70 percent of the company’s SKUs bear the Safer Choice label.  Ideally, Gutterman would like all Jelmar products to be green.

Read the entire article:  Green, clean dynasty:  Jelmar LLC

Screenshot courtesy:  Edward Lowe Foundation

To Grow, Sometimes You Just Need to Say No

A new survey found that while women small business owners claim to value work-life balance more than men, women are less likely than men to actually take steps to achieve that elusive goal.  One of the other big problems is learning how to say "no."

Capital One’s latest Spark Business Barometer polled small business owners about various aspects of their businesses, including how they define business success.

Learn more:  Study Reveals Female Business Owners Need to Set Boundaries

Black Women Entrepreneurs Are the Fastest Growing Group in America

A recently published study, 2015 State of Women-Owned Businesses Report (pdf), commissioned by American Express Open, shows that the overall number of female-owned businesses grew by 74 percent between 1997 and 2015, which is 1.5 times the national average.  The number of businesses owned by African-American women has grown 332 percent since 1997, according to Fortune magazine.

Read more:  Black Women Represent Fastest-Growing Group of Entrepreneurs in U.S.

All Business Becoming Global

It's always a treat to see one of our very own WPO Chicago members featured in a prominent news article.  In this case, Shea Soucie, co-owner of Soucie Horner, Ltd., a custom residential design firm, is featured in the Chicago Sun-Times article:  Women at work:  'All business becoming global,' Chicago importer says.

Shea started a new business, SHIIR, to import fine rugs (pictured) and decorative carpets and sell them across the country and worldwide.

Congrats to Shea!  We are very proud of you.

Screenshot courtesy:  SHIIR

A Friend's Support Along With WPO Can Make Women Better Entrepreneurs

According to Harvard Business Review, the people we choose to surround ourselves with often matter a great deal to our success — especially when we are trying to thrive as entrepreneurs.

That’s because spending time alongside other motivated and successful people -- fellow WPO members, for example -- can have positive effects on our own success.

Read more:  A Friend's Support Can Make Women Better Entrepreneurs

How to Make $80,000 a Month and Pre-Qualify for WPO Membership

Alicia Shaffer's business, ThreeBirdNest, makes $80,000 a month selling handmade leg warmers, scarves, and headbands on Etsy. Here's how she does it and also pre-qualifies for WPO.

How One Woman Makes Almost $1 Million A Year On Etsy

WPO Heads to Baltimore in 2016

Every year, the Women Presidents' Organization (WPO) hosts an annual conference in a different city. This year we hosted it in Phoenix.  The conference attracts over 800 members, representing successful women-led businesses from all over the world, sharing expertise and business strategies and learning from interactive seminars and speakers.

We are proud to announce that our 2016 annual conference will be held in Baltimore, April 7-9, 2016, at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront.  Mark your calendars now to attend.  If you are not already a member, become one.

WPO has set a goal of making the 2016 annual conference in Baltimore the organization's largest ever. We are exploring the possibility of adding a job fair, with jobs provided by WPO members. Attendees will have the opportunity to travel to our nation's capital for behind-the-scenes events at the conclusion of the conference.

Meanwhile, read our recent press:  Women's Business Leadership Group Is Coming to Baltimore

The Owner's Journey: How to Sell or Transfer a Company

At some point in a business owner's lifetime they wonder what they should do with their business -- sell it or transfer it, for example. Entrepreneur in Residence at Columbia Business School Barbara Roberts (pictured) has created a Whitepaper, "The Owner’s Journey: Experiences shared and lessons learned from entrepreneurs who successfully sold or transferred their business to family members."  It's all you need to execute a finely tuned exit at your business.

Barbara says:

"There has been significant sale and employee and family ownership transfer activity in the private company space over the last few years as baby boomers head into retirement.  However,  many successful entrepreneurs do not know all of their options for sale and transfer and are not well-prepared to give up ownership of their companies."

Commissioned by U.S. Trust as a Columbia Business School Whitepaper, the paper follows eight successful entrepreneurs who nurtured and grew their businesses and then grappled with the challenges of sale or transfer to family members.

The 44-page Whitepaper can be accessed free here.

Snapshot of Barbara's background:  Barbara is trained in facilitation and mediation, and certified in coaching by the Hudson Institute of Santa Barbara.  She works with CEOs and owners of venture-backed and family-owned private companies as a board member and coach/consultant in all stages of entrepreneurship from startup through sale, and works with families on succession planning.  She also chairs peer learning groups at TIGER 21 and the Women Presidents’ Organization and runs succession planning workshops for the NYC Economic Development Corp. and New York Public Library.

Barbara is available to answer any questions you might have about the report and welcomes private consulting/coaching and speaking opportunities on growing a business.  She can be reached via email at BR.

You might also be interested in a previous Whitepaper she wrote, "Life After An Exit:  How Entrepreneurs Transition to the Next Stage after a Sale."  We posted about it here on March 7, 2011.

Invest in Your Single Greatest Asset: Yourself

Every WPO member's story is unique and different but I suspect that each one begins with someone starting a business because they spotted a need or thought they could do something better than anyone else.  Sometimes it turns out big and other times it fizzles out fast. Either way, they keep moving forward and getting stuff done.

What separates successful entrepreneurs from the unsuccessful ones? In this article, it boils down to five things (hint:  one is to invest in yourself!).  See if you agree.  If you don't, feel free to chime in. We're hoping to hear from you!

5 Things Successful Entrepreneurs Do Differently

Are You Likable at Your Business?

In "Seven Habits of Likable People," the author asks this one question as it relates to your chances of getting ahead at work:  Are you well liked?  Now, I ask you the same question as it relates to running your multi-million dollar business:  Are you well liked?  Whether you want to get ahead at work or at growing a successful business, you can improve your reputation by practicing these seven habits of likable people.

Seven Habits of Likable People

Tips on Taking Your Business to the Next Level

Growing your business into a multimillion dollar enterprise is no easy feat.  If it were, every businessman and businesswoman on the planet would be doing it.  So what does it take to get your business to the next level?

Last week (5/8) administration officials, investors and entrepreneurs gathered at The Washington Post to offer advice on fostering a thriving, woman-owned small business.  Here's what they shared.

"Don't fear debt, embrace risk, and more advice for women business owners"

Screenshot courtesy:  The Washington Post, Kate Patterson

50 Fastest WPO Companies Boost Our Economy and Create Jobs

Congratulations to Chicago members Michelle Vondrasek, Catherine Tojaga and Shelly Sun for making the 50 Fastest Growing Women-Owned/Led Companies - presented by the Women Presidents’ Organization and sponsored by American Express Global Corporate Payments.

For just the second time, nominations were open to global entries. The 50 Fastest generated a combined $4.4 billion in 2014 revenues (mean of $88.3 million) and collectively employed 31,121 in 2014 (mean of 692).

To learn more about the winners, visit:  Trailblazing Women Business Owners & Leaders Recognized for Rapid Company Growth

Screenshot courtesy:  Women Presidents' Organization

WPO 18th Annual Conference 2015 in Phoenix, Arizona

The Women Presidents' Organization annual conference -- April 30 - May 2, 2015 in Phoenix, Arizona -- 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.

To register and view conference schedule, visit:
https://www.womenpresidentsorg.com/news-events/annual-conference

See you there!

Twitter:  @WomenPresidents
Twitter hashtag:  #WPOConf

Screenshot courtesy:  Arizona Biltmore

Women's Entrepreneurship: Sources of Economic Hope

As of August 2014, about 57 percent of women were counted as labor force participants, and the gap between men and women had narrowed to only 13 percentage points.  But to appreciate that stat, we must back up a bit.

In 1948, the gap in labor force participation between American men and women was 54 percentage points—only one-third of American women were officially counted as in the labor force. Nearly seven decades later, the gap has narrowed considerably as women have entered the labor force en masse, and as men have experienced steady declines. 

According to the Ewing Marion Kaufman Foundation’s recent report “Sources of Economic Hope: Women’s Entrepreneurship," women business owners will lead the way to economic growth in the United States.

Read more:  Sources of Economic Hope:  Women's Entrepreneurship

Screenshot:  Ewing Marion Kaufman Foundation

Dr. Marsha Firestone Becomes Council Member to the National Women's Business Council

The National Women's Business Council has welcomed Marsha Firestone to its esteemed group of Council Members. She will serve as the representative of the Women Presidents' Organization. Based in New York City, Firestone has an extensive track record and decades of experience supporting women entrepreneurs, business owners and leaders.

Read the news here.

Screenshot courtesy of the National Women's Business Council

Squeaky Clean WPO Chicago Member Alison Gutterman

WPO Chicago member Alison Gutterman is president and CEO of household cleaning company Jelmar LLC.

Jelmar was the only woman-owned business in Illinois to be included among six nationwide chosen by Wal-Mart to be part of the retail giant’s Women’s History Month promotion. Jelmar has 13 employees and about $50 million in yearly revenues.

In an interview with Sandra Guy at the Chicago Sun-Times, Alison talks about how she gets people to interact with her company by using technology, how she formulates safe products and how she keeps the company growing.

Read the interview here.

(We are very proud of Alison and appreciate her mentioning the Women Presidents' Organization in her interview.)

Screenshot courtesy:  Sunday Sitdown at the Chicago Sun-Times