Monday, June 26, 2023

From Exit to ESOP

When contemplating selling her business, Michelle Hayward, founder of Bluedog, did some research. 

She had developed a highly capable leadership team. When she exited, she wanted them to benefit, too. For her, there was only one solution. An employee stock ownership program (ESOP) was the fastest path to exiting Bluedog and driving future value for her employees. Employee ownership takes the company's award-winning culture and the accountability for maintaining it to the next level. It rewards employees by making them owners. 

Read the entire article here.

Monday, June 19, 2023

Transitions: Strategies For Business Owners (Event 6/28/23)

Two WPO Chicago members, WPO CEO Camille Burns (moderator), and Prudential VP of Advanced Planning Karen Hoffman will discuss concerns and strategies to help ensure that ownership of your business is transferred smoothly when the time comes. 

Approaches for transferring wealth to people and organizations that you care about will also be discussed.

If you are a business owner, feel free to join us Wednesday, June 28, 2023 at 4:00 PM CT.

To learn more and to register (virtually or in person), visit: https://www.women-presidents.com/news-events/events-programs/Prudential-and-WPO-Discussion-Panel

Monday, June 12, 2023

10 Best Practices For Rewards and Recognition Programs For Employees

Simply put, employee recognition programs reward and acknowledge employees for their contributions and achievements. This can take many forms, from traditional bonuses and raises to non-monetary rewards like extra time off or public recognition. The key is tailoring the recognition to the individual and their accomplishments.

Here are 10 best practices for rewards and recognition programs for employees and some innovative strategies for employee recognition. 

Monday, June 05, 2023

The State of Girls and Women in STEM 2023

Created annually by National Girls Collaborative Project, this March 2023 resource presents a high-level summary of the most compelling statistics and research on the state of girls and women in STEM, focused on K-12 Education, Higher Education, and the STEM Workforce. 

At the Women Presidents Organization, we encourage more girls and women to enter into STEM.  It is crucial to understand that gender inequity in STEM is driven more by perception than by reality.

Download the document here.

Monday, May 29, 2023

The Best CEOs Continually Improve

"Success breeds complacency, complacency breeds failure." – Andy Grove

How do CEOs (business owners) avoid complacency and sustain high performance through the middle years of the role? There is no magic formula, but from these authors research and experience in the field of CEO excellence, they are confident the odds are greatly increased by the following:

  • Enhancing your learning agenda
  • Taking an outsider’s perspective
  • Collaboratively defining the next S-curve
  • Future-proofing the organization

Read on to learn more about all of the above.

Monday, May 22, 2023

Minority Business Ownership Differs By Sector

As the U.S. population has become more diverse, ownership of U.S. businesses has changed.  There were more Hispanic-owned businesses overall and more minority-owned businesses in various sectors in 2020 than a decade earlier, according to the Census Bureau’s 2021 Annual Business Survey (ABS).

Approximately 20% or 1.2 million of these employer businesses were owned by minorities. They employed about 9.9 million employees and had annual payroll of $357.4 billion.

Learn more about who owns America's businesses and how minority business ownership differs by sector.

Monday, May 15, 2023

The Entrepreneurial Journey

JP Morgan | Chase asked business owners and leaders to share the strategies, priorities and principles they’ve embraced throughout their entrepreneurial journey.

Here's what they said.

Monday, May 08, 2023

Vegas Events: The 2023 WPO Entrepreneurial Excellence Forum

Come one, come all – it's finally here:  The 2023 WPO Entrepreneurial Excellence Forum May 10-12, 2023 at the Cosmopolitan Hotel Las Vegas.

Check it out here and learn from WPO members the answer to this key question:  Why did you join WPO and what have you gotten out of it?

See you in Vegas!

Monday, May 01, 2023

U.S. Women Entrepreneurs Are Fueling Business Growth

In the United States, many women are fueling this newfound growth in entrepreneurship, creating around half of all new businesses in 2022.

They are the future of work.  Learn why.

Monday, April 24, 2023

Join the Women Presidents Organization in Vegas for the Entrepreneurial Excellence Forum May 10-12, 2023

It's not too late!  JOIN me along with 750 other women business owners from around the world who will be arriving in Las Vegas for the annual Women Presidents Organization Entrepreneurial Excellence Forum. This is the most amazing program of the year for WPO.

Our WPO CEO Camille Burns sums it up nicely in this LinkedIn post.

To learn more and to register, visit here.  And be sure to stop in at the Pre-Forum Workshop I'll [Laurel Delaney] be moderating on Intentional Growth Beyond Borders (May 10th at 9:30 AM local time).

See you there!  

Monday, April 17, 2023

Helping Kids Launch Big Ideas of Their Own

Jess Ekstrom, Founder of Headbands of Hope and Mic Drop Workshop, launched a multi-million dollar company out of her dorm room in college.  

In this interview with Jessica Abo, she shares how it all started and her advice for kids and teens who want to launch their own big idea.

Monday, April 10, 2023

Valarie King-Bailey, CEO, OnShore Technology Group Makes the Crain's Chicago List of Biggest Women-Owned Businesses

Our very own WPO Chicago member, Valarie King-Bailey, M.B.A., Chief Executive Officer, OnShore Technology Group, makes the Crain's Chicago Business List of Biggest Women-Owned Businesses.

Congrats to Valarie.  We are so proud of you.  This recognition supports all your hard work over the years and is very much deserved.

You can access the list if you are a subscriber to Crain's, here.


Monday, April 03, 2023

Advice For a Young Lady Wanting to Become President (of the United States)

What will it take for a woman to obtain the highest office in the land?  in this case we are talking about becoming President of the United States and not President of your own business although I must say that President of your own business is a pretty tall order, too.  We know this to be true at the Women Presidents Organization.  If you want to be a Chief, you join WPO, it's that simple provided you run a multimillion dollar business.  Anything else that you join is subterfuge for the real thing.

But back to President of the United States.  While pundits debate Nikki Haley's chances, historian Alexis Coe looks back at a speech former President Gerald Ford gave to a group of children and wonders if he—and whole bunch of film and TV writers—was right all along.

In 1989 a bespectacled girl with a yellow ribbon in her hair asked Gerald Ford if he had any advice for a “young lady wanting to become president of the United States.” Ford didn’t recommend the best schools or list acts of service. He didn’t even answer her question, instead pivoting to a morbid prediction.

Read on to see what it was.

Monday, March 27, 2023

Women Supporting Women

Starting out with just about 70 women-owned businesses featured on The WMarketplace, the Seattle-based e-commerce site has grown to more than 500 women-owned businesses.

Co-founder and CEO Kate Isler said it was crucial for women business owners to find a place to sell their products and services in order to survive the pandemic and thrive going forward.

Just like the Women Presidents Organization, "Women supporting women" is also a core part of The WMarketplace, according to Isler, who said that mindset is how women entrepreneurs succeed.

Read on to learn more about the backstory on The WMarketplace.

Monday, March 20, 2023

The Rebel Within Her: Ali Florsheim

Ali Florsheim (as shown), is president of Wisconsin-based Rebel Green, a natural household cleaning product company.  She is a rebel to us in the WPO Chicago II chapter.  Because she's strong, bold and fearless in running her successful business.  She's grateful for a lot of things but in particular ... 

When it comes to gratitude, however, Florsheim saves her biggest thank you for the WPO. “I find it difficult to express the depth of my gratitude to the WPO for providing an opportunity for women in business to get together,” she says. “It’s such a unique experience to have even the possibility to sit with such interesting, successful women, and to learn from them, to share experiences in such a non-judgmental and informal way.”

We love having Ali as a WPO member and she is inspiration to us all.  Read the entire WPO interview here.

Monday, March 13, 2023

Marketing to Women Isn’t Just About the Color of a Product

Marketing to women isn’t just about the color of a product. After all, Maserati could make their cars pink if they thought that would appeal to women.

Globally, according to a not-for-profit that helps build workplaces that work for women, women control about $32 trillion in annual consumer spending. That’s a lot of purchasing power.

In the U.S., women account for 85% of all consumer spending, and they are responsible for a growing number of highly significant buying decisions, including 93% of food and over-the-counter pharmaceuticals, 92% of vacations, 91% of new homes, as well as 89% of bank accounts, 80% of health care, 66% of PCs and 65% of new cars.

To help your products or services connect with savvy female consumers, these five tips may help.

Monday, March 06, 2023

How to Measure Employee Engagement with the G12

There are 12 needs managers can meet to improve employees' productivity. This approach to engagement is simple, and, according to Gallup, it works. Here they are:

  1. I know what is expected of me at work.
  2. I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right.
  3. At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.
  4. In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work.
  5. My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person.
  6. There is someone at work who encourages my development.
  7. At work, my opinions seem to count.
  8. The mission or purpose of my company makes me feel my job is important.
  9. My associates or fellow employees are committed to doing quality work.
  10. I have a best friend at work.
  11. In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress.
  12. This last year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow.

Learn the science behind the questions.

Monday, February 27, 2023

Be Empowered and Inspired: Read a Book

Ask yourself these three questions:

  1. Do I want to read books that inspired successful women entrepreneurs?
  2. Am I curious to see what key learnings other business owners get from their reads?
  3. Do I want to start my own business, but there’s something holding me down and I’m not sure what it is?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you’re in the right place. 

Each book in this collection comes with its own recommendation because it’s important to understand why that title was important to its curator, to determine if it might be important to you, as well.

And once you start your business, visit the Women Presidents Organization to get even more inspired.  Reach a million-dollar mark in annual revenue and membership can be yours.  A dream come true. 

Monday, February 20, 2023

As a Business Owner, How Not to Make These Top 3 Mistakes

When companies are just getting off the ground, there are many stressors and opportunities. This is an exciting time in the life of your company, and there are some common pitfalls that you can avoid.

Here are three.

Monday, February 13, 2023

Thoughts, Prayers and Love to Our WPO Sisters in Turkey

We are reposting the LinkedIn post our WPO CEO wrote about the horrific event that happened in Turkey.  

From Chicago to Peru to South Africa – no matter where the WPO chapter is located – we are with our Turkey WPO sister in spirit, love and support.

If you want to help support Turkey, our WPO chapter chair, Gaye Goker, has suggested two trusted organizations:

  1. https://lnkd.in/exA4kyrD
  2. https://lnkd.in/edvBvqrN

Read CEO Camille Burn's entire post here.