If You Could Find a Way to Turn Back Time

If you could turn back time (remember the famous Cher tune?) and change your approach on running your business, what would you have done differently in your 20s?

From taking advantage of having no strings attached and seeing the world to raising your hand and asking questions, here is advice from 5 successful women business owners that they wish they would have taken in their 20s.

Women Business Owners Offer Sound Advice

I've captured all the sound advice – 16 insights – provided by women business owners in the article, "Meet the women driving Worcester's renaissance and the advice they have for aspiring business owners," by Melissa Hanson.

Here's a snapshot of what they have to say when asked what advice they would give to aspiring business owners.

1. Make sure you have a solid plan and then make sure you have a solid backup plan. And do your research and talk, network...And don't be afraid to put your ideas out there. 
2. I think the biggest thing is finding your cheerleaders, your champions, your people that are going to believe in your vision. Finding people who are going to be in your corner but that are going to challenge you and encourage you to really consider everything before you go into business is going to make you that much stronger.
3. Just do it. Always be prepared. Go in there knowing what you're talking about.
4. I would say, make sure you have a plan. Some sort of plan. Do something that you love. If you love what you're doing, you will make it a success.
5. You normally know the truth in your gut. So, if you know you're a hardworking person who's willing to sacrifice and willing to give up time and willing to kind of lose the financial part of it at first -- cause it's really difficult to make money in the beginning -- then you just have to really trust yourself. It sounds cliche, but everyone can give you an opinion but at the end of the day they're not going home with your problems. 
6. It takes a lot of will. Like unrelenting will. Get your will in order and make sure that you're doing something you're absolutely in love with and passionate about. Because there's going to be plenty of times where really crappy things are happening but if you're in love with the whole thing of what you're doing you're much more accepting of it as part of the process.
7. Just go for it. I think that all young women out there and even older women...I think that they just have to understand that they just have to do it anyway because time will pass. 
8. Really think it through and talk to other business owners to understand what's going to keep you up at night and the challenge of employing people and keeping people employed. 
9. It's not always easy and you have to do it for the right reasons. Do it because you love it and because it fits your lifestyle. You've got to surround yourself with like-minded, good people. Pay them.
10. You need a sounding board, whether it's friends of somebody who's done it before you. Do your research and talk to people. 
11. Just do it. Just start. You've got to start somewhere. Get involved and reach out. Go to a city meeting, go to a cultural coalition meeting. You've got to start building that team right off the bat.
12. There's no definites and I mean that in the sense of, talk to a lot of people, get information from a lot of people, but also know that there's a lot that you have to filter out. It's just kind of a matter of following your heart and your gut.
13. My biggest thing that I think helped was not really having a backup plan. There was no, "if it doesn't work out." This was always what was going to happen. 
14. Be transparent. Be honest with each other. If you're doing it with a partner, or even if you're doing it by yourself, figure out what your comfort zone is and be willing to go beyond what because you are always stronger than what you think you are.
15. Do the research. Do your homework. Do as much of it as you can. Talk to as many people in the industry, research your market, research your industry. Run the numbers. Have a business plan. Talk to the bank. Get financing and have three months worth of financing in the bank on top of everything you need for buildout, because those are the biggest mistakes people make.
16. Go for it.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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 Goehle, Kim Robinson, Sandy 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."

Happy New Year from WPO Chicago!

WPO Chicago Wishes You a Wonderful Holiday Season and a Happy New Year

©2018 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

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.