Women-Owned Firms Make Up Sizable Shares of Some Industries But Tend To Be Smaller Than Male-Owned Firms

According to a Pew Research Center analysis of recently released data from the U.S. Census Bureau, women, blacks, Asians and Hispanics have built up substantial positions as business owners in several sectors of the U.S. economy.  But based on revenue, those businesses are on average considerably smaller than white- or male-owned firms.

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

Illustration credit:  Pew Research Center

Remember to Share Your Story

Successful entrepreneurs and business owners are busy doing what they do best:  building their businesses.  But how many of them share their stories on how they got to where they are in business so that they can help others succeed too (part of the WPO model)?

Read more:  Women on the move tell their stories

Are You Defining Performance by a Single Number?

According to David Rock and Beth Jones, a few years ago, they noticed around half a dozen courageous companies beginning experiments to remove ratings from their performance management systems.  Is your company one of them?  Companies were still differentiating performance in various ways, and still using a pay-for-performance approach, just not through a simple rating system.

Rather, companies prefer to emphasize ongoing, quality conversations between managers and their teams.

Learn more:  Why More and More Companies Are Ditching Performance Ratings

Is a RBF a Blessing or a Curse?

RBF (I'll let you find out what it stands for but let's just say it has to do with nonverbal cues, like facial expression, body language and tone), as a label, has become the latest Internet craze. A historical review of the term indicates it originated in 2009, but Google trends show Internet searches for the phrase took off in the spring of 2013. RBF has since become the subject of countless memes, often featuring celebrity examples. The hype reached new heights of controversy when it was written up in The New York Times on Aug. 1.

The question becomes:  As a business owner, is your RBF helping or hindering you?

Here's one woman's take:

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

WBDC Chicago: Fueling Growth. Driving Change.

We hope to see you at the Women's Business Development Center Conference in Chicago on Wednesday,  September 2, 2015.  WPO's founder, Dr. Marsha Firestone, will be moderating a panel -- be sure to catch it.

Secrets Behind the Fastest Growing Women-Owned Businesses

Hear from three of 2015’s 50 Fastest Winners (sponsored by American Express Global Corporate Payments) share the strategies they used to develop their business into one of the fastest growing women-owned/led companies in North America. Participants will learn strategies to both grow their business and overcome the inevitable challenges that all business owners encounter on the road to success.

Moderator:  Marsha Firestone, Ph.D. Founder and President, Women Presidents’ Organization

Panelists:

• Rebecca Thomley, CEO, Orion Associates
• Michelle Vondrasek, President, Von Technologies
• Cassandra Sanford, CEO, Kelly Mitchell Group, Inc.

WPO's Booth No. is 714.  Stop in for a visit.  We'd love to find out what your business needs are and how we might help you grow.

Share of Women-Owned Businesses Has Climbed

Fresh government data show the share of women-owned firms has climbed, even though the growth rate of all new businesses remains stalled.

According to preliminary U.S. Census Bureau data released last week, the total number of U.S. firms edged up 2% to 27.6 million between 2007 and 2012, but the number of women-owned firms grew much faster, rising 27% during that time.

Read more:  Women Make Strides in Business

Screenshot of Carla Harris, chair of the National Women’s Business Council, courtesy:  WSJ

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