Make Something Out of Nothing

Pink-haired Therese Tucker's company, BlackLine was born in 2001 as a software company handling accounting tasks.

"I cashed out my nest egg from my options, I maxed out my credit cards, I took out a second mortgage on my house," Tucker says. "If I could have figured out how to get into my kids' college funds, I would have taken that too." Tucker was a single mother of two at the time.

Learn more about how Therese went against all odds, broke through a glass ceiling, and started her own $2 billion tech company.

And the pink hair?  It started as a dare and now has become a magnet for all things social and interesting at her company.

Building Beyond the Glass Ceiling

In this post, find out the top U.S. cities for women entrepreneurs (San Francisco and Seattle, for example) and catch a wonderful infographic that includes seven tips for future women entrepreneurs.

Two important steps to successfully starting up are finding a mentor and building a network of fellow female entrepreneurs that you can turn to for advice and referrals. Launching a business in a city with a thriving community of women entrepreneurs is a good place to start.

Photo courtesy:  ericskiff

Starting a Business? Better Have a Fantastic Sense of Self-Confidence

A U.K. perspective but I find the article below fascinating nonetheless due to the comments about America.

If we look to America, where women tend to have more self confidence and a greater willingness to push themselves forward, levels of female entrepreneurship are nearly twice as high as they are in the UK. Rates of male and female entrepreneurship are almost equal, with 7% of females involved in early-stage entrepreneurship compared to 8% of men. Indeed, if the UK had the same level of female entrepreneurship as the US, there would be approximately 600,000 more women-owned businesses.

Take a good look at how confidence factors into the equation when you are thinking about starting a business.

American business people (men and women) have a fantastic sense of confidence in what they can do, which I think women in the UK could learn a lot from. In America there is a relentless work ethic and entrepreneurs have to have complete confidence in who they are, their abilities and what they bring to the table, as well as the ability to be able to self-promote. Being able to stand up and be counted is one of the things, I think, that make American women more likely to start up a business and make it a success.

Read the entire article:  Smashing Your Way Out of the Glass Ceiling

Are Women Underrepresented in Corporate America?

Why don't women have more power in Corporate America?

Nobody wants to talk about it except Jezebel and its counter-part Jezenomics which I just love for its oh-so-over-the-top reporting.

J has something to say about how Corporate America is a laughingstock and how Portfolio wrings its manicured hands over it.

Read more here.

A Guy-Block in Disguise

Women occupy 40% of all managerial positions in the United States. But only 6% of the Fortune 500's top executives are female. And just 2% of those firms have women CEOs. What's getting in their way?

Perhaps its leadership style?

Put on your boxing gloves ladies!