Monday, February 11, 2019

Embrace the Occasional Tumble

According to Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck, you’ll reach new heights if you learn to embrace the occasional tumble.  More importantly, a mindset matters too.

Key finding:
People with performance goals, she [Dweck] reasoned, think intelligence is fixed from birth. People with learning goals have a growth mindset about intelligence, believing it can be developed.
A highly developed mindset most certainly can foster business growth. Learn why here.

Monday, February 04, 2019

Why Successful Women Surround Themselves With Other Women

We already know this at the Women Presidents' Organization!  But in case you don't, give it a nice long read not once but twice to really get it.

Most successful women surround themselves with other women

Study finds female-dominated inner circles are key to women gaining leadership roles
Photo courtesy:  raw pixel for Unsplash

Monday, January 28, 2019

Are You Enjoying the Journey to Success?

If you are enjoying the journey to whatever you are trying to achieve at your business, the odds will be in your favor to stay motivated and reach the outcome you desire.
A major key to success and a healthy life is to enjoy yourself during the process of whatever you are trying to accomplish. Unfortunately, enjoyment is something that many people leave by the wayside—especially when change is taking place at a tremendous rate and the pressure is on to reinvent yourself and achieve new goals.
The good news is there are always fresh opportunities to feel good and to be happy.

Find out how to enjoy the process on your way to success.

Monday, January 21, 2019

Giving Female Founders a Leg Up When Launching a Business

According to Lydia Dishman for Fast Company, in 2017, the percentage of startups that had at least one female founder was just 17%, a number that has plateaued since 2012. That handful of female founders received just 2%, or $1.9 billion, of the $85 billion total invested by venture capitalists last year.

In the quest to give more female founders a leg up when launching their businesses, the Female Founders Alliance (FFA) is partnering with WeWork Labs.
“The biggest crossover is in our missions,” [founder and CEO of FFA] Feinzaig notes. Both FFA and WeWork Labs say they are committed to bridging the gap between underrepresented founders and the growing startup ecosystem and are creating ways to make resources and people more accessible to those who need it most. 
Read more about how the Female Founders Alliance is partnering with WeWork Labs to help entrepreneurs access resources.

Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash.

Monday, January 14, 2019

Set Higher Prices and Charge More Ladies

Self-employed women still make a lot less than self-employed men. Rhonda Abrams, for USA Today, says: "Ladies: It’s time to give yourself a raise."
"The data suggest a massive gender wage gap exists among freelancers, with men out earning women by 28%," according to "Women in the Independent Workforce Report," a recently released study.  It was conducted by FreshBooks, a Toronto-based accounting and invoicing program for self-employed and small businesses.
Read more about how women entrepreneurs should not short-change themselves on their pay scale.

Monday, January 07, 2019

4 Windy City Disruptors

I am thrilled to have the opportunity to conduct an interview for Enterprising Women Magazine featuring four (4) successful WPO Chicago members: [photo L-R] AJ GoehleKim RobinsonSandy Marsico and Chaoran Jin.

I asked each entrepreneur about disruption, what they never worry about in business and what they know for sure that promises success in business.

Read the interview, "Windy City Disruptors:  Success Strategies From Women Entrepreneurs Who Are Changing the Game of Business" at Enterprising Women or here (PDF).

Note:  "This content first appeared in Vol. 19, No. 3 of Enterprising Women magazine (www.enterprisingwomen.com) and is being reprinted with permission from the publisher.  All rights reserved."

Monday, December 17, 2018

The Final Mile Concept

The final mile concept -- the distance between a product or service’s final distribution outlet and its ultimate destination—is typically the most expensive and, in many cases, the most complex to solve.

And it isn’t limited to logistics, however. As Fast Company says:
Social platforms are also trying to figure out how to get their users to interact in person in order to strengthen bonds that were often initiated and developed digitally. And it isn’t only tech giants like Facebook and Pinterest that are interested in learning how to turn digital communities into analog ones. Companies including Lincoln are also looking at how technology can bring people together in the flesh. “Technology is a great connection enabler,” says Becca Anderson, client experience manager at Lincoln. “But I don’t think anything replaces the human, personal connection.
Read more about the final mile concept and the importance of bringing people together in flesh.

Monday, December 10, 2018

Large Gender Gap in Fundraising

Funding is what gives most startups the ability to compete with more established companies for talent.
When all of your competitors are raising money, the amount you raise matters.  And women still aren't getting enough of it.
So, if women founders are earning a higher return on investment than men [Quartz's analysis], why is there still such a large gender gap in fundraising?

Learn more about how female founders deserve to be funded, period.

Monday, December 03, 2018

Architectural Digest Features Shea Soucie of Soucie Horner

We love when our Chicago members are featured in the news!  And this article says it all about WPO Chicago member and designer Shea Soucie of Chicago-based Soucie Horner, Ltd.
"Shiir, for us, from a design standpoint, has been an exploration of material, technique, and texture," Soucie tells AD PRO. "As a designer, when we started on the line, I wanted to come up with something that was unique in the marketplace. To me, texture had to drive that conversation. Then we found different techniques and fibers to translate those textures and bring them to life. After four years of exploring woven fiber, leather was another material that we could take on."
Read the article, "Shiir Rugs's Newest Line Presents a Fresh Take on Leather," published in Architectural Digest.

Screenshot credit.

Monday, November 26, 2018

Great Success In Business Grows From a Tiny Seed

There’s no silver bullet that effortlessly launches you out of your cubicle confinement and into the free world of entrepreneurship.  For some, the dream to be your own boss grows for a long time, even years, before it finally comes to fruition.

The truth is, great success in business grows from just one, tiny seed.

Find out how a few successful women entrepreneurs got their start and grew their businesses over the years.

And we will leave you with a little quotation gem:
“My desire to build, create, and learn, surpasses my fear. Every challenge I’m faced with now, becomes a greater experience of learning my true power.”
Photo courtesy here.

Monday, November 19, 2018

2018 Women of Color Achievement Awards

100 Black Men of Seattle, Inc., in partnership with the Women Presidents’ Organization (WPO), announce the honorees of the 2018 Women of Color Achievement Awards. A total of eleven women were recognized for outstanding professional achievement and demonstrating exemplary customer service.
This year’s honorees included: Phyllis Campbell, Meredith Everist, Naomi Gonzalez, Tanya Jimale, Trish Millines-Dziko,Trena Payton, Mary Pugh, Angela Shen, Sheryl Willert, Claudia Mitchell, and Jessie Woolley-Wilson.
“We are very proud to continue our ongoing partnership with 100 Black Men to acknowledge a distinguished group of influential women business leaders,” said Dr. Marsha Firestone, President and Founder of the Women Presidents’ Organization.

Read the entire article highlighting and honoring outstanding women entrepreneurs.

Monday, November 12, 2018

Want to Get Better at Something?

If you believe that anyone can get better at anything, then ask yourself these two questions.
Learning anything new is, by its nature, uncomfortable. You will need to act in ways that are unfamiliar. Take risks that are new. Try things that, in may cases, will be initially frustrating because they won’t work the first time. You are guaranteed to feel awkward. You will make mistakes. 
Now that we know all that, read on to unveil the two questions and to start improving instantly.

Monday, November 05, 2018

How to Inspire Your Employees to Become Leaders

Aspiring leaders need help realizing their potential. Some simple day-to-day actions from managers can help.  Here are 4 ways that management teams can support developing leaders on a daily basis.
  1. Know who they are
  2. Get good conflict resolution
  3. Empower them
  4. Get comfortable with coaching
Read the entire article on how to inspire your employees to become leaders.

Monday, October 29, 2018

Meeting Other Businesswomen Enhances Growth Potential

Being a a business owner can be lonely, hence meeting other women who understand you, both professionally and personally, can make a difference to your business’ success.  That's why the Women Presidents' Organization business model works so well for so many female business owners.  When they become a part of WPO, the business owners are far more likely to forecast growth and remain on that trajectory for a very long time.

But beyond WPO, there are other women's networks around the world.  In the article below, the author concentrates on a few located in the UK.

Check it out.

Monday, October 22, 2018

Never Let Failure Stop You

A 2017 study by the Small Business Administration found that about 79 percent of small business startups survive their first year, 51 percent survive five years and 33 percent survive ten years. Don't be a statistic--learn how to be one of the successful businesses by following these three key guidelines.
  1. Anticipate failure.
  2. Adapt to change.
  3. Innovate to stay ahead.
Read the entire article, "Failure Is Inevitable.  It's How you Move Forward That Counts."

Monday, October 15, 2018

WPO Chicago Summit 2018 Hosted at Radio Flyer

©2018 Radio Flyer.  Used with permission.  All rights reserved.
WPO Chicago Chapter members had the opportunity to network, learn and be hosted at Chicago-based Radio Flyer, recent recipient of the World's Largest Toy Wagon by Guinness Book of World Records and of more than 30 other workplace awards to date.

The focus at the 15th Annual WPO Chicago Summit, a strategic engagement program specifically designed for WPO Chicago members, was to Build a Great Company Culture.

Monday, October 08, 2018

Achieving Success Through a Value-Driven Enterprise

Robert Reiss, contributor for Forbes, writes that women are the future of leadership.

Below he asks 7 great women leaders two questions: how values drive their organization and their advice on communicating values. They are:
  1. Laura Blair, CEO, In Villas Veritas
  2. Lorna Donatone, CEO, Sodexo North America
  3. Dr. Marsha Firestone, President, Women Presidents' Organization
  4. Carolee Lee, Founder, Carolee Designs & CEO, AccessCircles
  5. Judith Glaser, CEO, Benchmark Communications
  6. Dottie Herman, CEO, Douglas Elliman
  7. Michelle Peluso, CMO, IBM
Read more from women leaders on how value drives success.

About Robert Reiss:  He is the host of the nationally syndicated Am/Fm radio show The CEO Show with Robert Reiss; co-author, “The Transformative CEO,” and he shares insights by giving keynote speeches on the topic, “What we can learn from America’s top CEOs.”