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.

Publication of Interest: Harvard Business Review OnPoint

Over the weekend I bought the new executive edition of the Harvard Business Review and read it cover to cover. It's packed with all sorts of novel ideas and approaches on how best to grow an enterprise, including:

• how to reconceive your business's profit drivers
• how to stake out new market space where competitors haven't ventured
• how to expand your core business into related markets in predictable, repeatable ways
• how to execute a great strategy
• how to use the specific management tools that are tied to long-term growth

You can find it online below (for purchase) or visit your local Borders or Barnes & Noble; they both carry it on their periodical stand.

"Growing Your Business: Strategies That Work for Small and Midsize Companies."

Event: The Executives' Club of Chicago Women's Leadership Breakfast (September 26)

We are proud to be a partner on The Executives' Club of Chicago Women's Leadership Breakfast series. The next one is Tuesday, September 26 (7:00 a.m. registration) and hosted at the downtown Chicago Hilton. The theme is: "Executive Presence: How Savvy Are Your Business Skills?"

To learn more about the program and to register: Download invite here (PDF file).

Online registration closes September 22.

Event: Women's Summit (October 17)

The Women Presidents' Organization has agreed to partner with the University of Chicago Women’s Business Group to support the second annual Women’s Summit, to be held on October 17, 2006 from 3:00 to 9:00 p.m. This year's theme is: "Creating a Shared Vision."

The Women’s Summit will provide a venue for diverse leadership from corporations, law, medicine, economics, public policy, education, journalism, science, technology and non-profit organizations in the Chicago area to join together. In addition to celebrating successes and connections, we will develop a collective vision for increasing the contribution and success of women and minorities to the community in which we live and work.

In honor of this occasion, Cherie Booth, QC will be the featured speaker at the event. Her husband, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair, has given his wife credit for being "... an enormous source of strength and an extraordinary person in her own right. I never know how she manages with all the different things she does -- the work, the family." ~ The New York Times.

The Summit will start with facilitated visioning sessions to explore important topics for women today. Each session will have a thought leader with expertise on the topic and a professional facilitator. You are invited to share your thoughts and ideas and get involved. Our goal is for the community to come together, create a shared vision, and shape our future.

The breakout sessions will be followed by a networking opportunity, and by dinner and the keynote address.

"The Women Presidents' Organization is delighted to be a part of the UCWBG's Women's Summit. And with the United Kingdom being such a strong and loyal ally to the United States, we are thrilled to have Ms. Booth share her wisdom with us." -- Laurel Delaney, Chicago Chapter Facilitator

All Women Presidents' Organization members will be entitled to the member rate ($125), so please click the appropriate option -- Friends of the Summit -- when registering.

For more information and to register please visit:
the UCWBG's website.

News: Women-owned Firms Increase Nearly 20 Percent

Women-owned firms increased nearly 20 percent, while all U.S. firms grew by seven percent over the latest period studied (1997 and 2002), based on a report released by the Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration.

The report uses newly released U.S. Census and other data to describe women's contributions to the economy. Statistics documented in the report include:

• Women owned 6.5 million or 28.2 percent of nonfarm U.S. firms in 2002. More than 14 percent of these women-owned firms were employers, with 7.1 million employees and $173.7 billion in annual payroll.

• Women-owned firms accounted for 6.5 percent of total employment in U.S. firms in 2002 and 4.2 percent of total receipts.

• Of all women business owners in 2002, 85.95 percent were White, 8.43 percent African American, 8.33 percent Hispanic, 5.25 percent Asian, 1.23 percent American Indian and Alaska Native, and 0.18 percent Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander (total does not add to 100 due to some double counting across ethnic groups).

The report Women in Business: A Demographic Review of Women's Business Ownership was written by Office of Advocacy senior economist Dr. Ying Lowrey.

For a copy of this study (PDF file), click here.

Should you need further information, please feel free to contact Ying Lowrey at: (202) 205-6533.

Article of Interest: Business Plan For Your Bright Idea Must Be Clear, Not Long

Question: How long should a business plan be for a subscription content Web site that already has some advertising revenue?

Answer: It is said that Mark Twain once apologized for the long length of a letter to a friend. As the story goes, if he had had more time to improve the clarity of his writing, the letter would have been shorter!

The same holds true for business plans. It's not the length that matters, but the quality of the content that keeps reader attention. Straightforward, hyperbole-free prose is the way to go.

Read on for a few other suggestions.

Study of Interest: U.S. Leads In High-Potential Entrepreneurship

As first reported in the Babson Women's Business Blog.

U.S. entrepreneurs are in a league of their own when it comes to building innovative businesses that keep the economy dynamic and productive, according to the seventh annual U.S. Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). GEM is directed by Babson College and London Business School.

More than in any other nation, U.S. entrepreneurs are motivated by opportunities in what GEM researchers call ‘high-potential entrepreneurship’ -- fast growing, new ventures involved in the latest technologies and knowledge-transfer businesses.

High-potential entrepreneurs (HPE) are the innovators who keep the U.S. economy competitive in the global marketplace. HPEs increased U.S. productivity levels more than 100% in recent years.

Who are U.S. HPEs?

• Young males
• From upper income groups
• Motivated by opportunity
• Have almost no fear of failure
• Social beings who benefit from a deep network of entrepreneurs and angel investors
• Skillful in choosing opportunities from the business, not the consumer sector
• Believe they have no competitors
• Think differently than the general population.

Are you an HPE?

Find out here and learn more about the study's findings.

Survey of Interest: Small Business Owners Happier On Their Own

Sole proprietors, who make up three-fourths of all small businesses, lack the time and resources to focus on generating new business, according to a new survey from Visa USA and SCORE, a nonprofit association dedicated to entrepreneur education.

At the same time, the vast majority says they are happier now than they were at their previous employer, despite working as hard or harder.

Find out why here.

Article of Interest: SCORE Programs Educate Small Business Owners

When we hear the word "business," most of us tend to think of giant corporations and Fortune 500 heavyweights like IBM, Ford or GE. While these large high profile companies account for billions of dollars in this country's gross domestic product, the fact is that small businesses make up a sizeable and vital component of our nation's economy.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, small businesses employ half of all private sector employees, pay more than 45 percent of the total U.S. private payroll and have generated anywhere from 60 percent to 80 percent of net new jobs annually over the past decade. They also contribute to more than half of the U.S. nonfarm private gross domestic product (GDP).

But why is it that a significant number of these small businesses don't make it past the first few years of existence?

Find out here: SCORE programs educate small business owners, help them avoid failure

Visit SCORE's website.

Article of Interest: Business Owners Say Certification Helps Them Stand Out To Major Buyers

Dena Van Winkle never doubted the benefits of certifying her small business as woman-owned. The designation could open doors for contracts from corporations and government agencies seeking greater diversity among suppliers.

Read the article here: Minority small-business owners say certification helps them stand out to major buyers


Are you certified? We can direct you to the appropriate people. Just drop us an email.

Be Creative: Draw On Your Friends For Inspiration

Every once in a while you have to take a time out for yourself and your business. How else can you be creative? Hopefully, this is one of those moments. Enjoy.

Imagination Cubed

News: Introduction of Women's Small Business Ownership Programs Act

Today, Women Impacting Public Policy, the nation's largest bi-partisan women's business group, expressed their support of "The Women's Small Business Ownership Programs Act of 2006," introduced by Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Sen. John Kerry (D-MA). The bill, S. 3659, which will amend Section 29 of the Small Business Act, is designed to encourage women small business ownership by revitalizing programs within the Small Business Administration (SBA) geared toward women-owned businesses.

Read more here: WIPP Applauds Senators Snowe and Kerry for Introducing Women's Small Business Ownership Programs Act.

Report of Interest: Women-Owned Million-Dollar Firms

In case you missed it, find out the economic impact (clout) that women-owned million-dollar firms have on our country's health by reading a study conducted by the Center for Women's business Research : Women Demonstrate They Have What It Takes to Build Million-Dollar Firms.