Great Business Websites for Entrepreneurial Women

Here's a list of personal favorites from our respected colleague and friend, Rieva Lesonsky who runs GrowBiz Media.

Go here to access.

We Interrupt This Blog to Bring You a Male CEO: Mark Palmer

Here's one male CEO's takeaway on a session he attended, "The Power of the Purse" about women leaders in our world, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The two-hour session was like an intellectual popcorn popper; one profound observation shot up after another, and I frantically took notes. The conversation ricocheted between social, sexual, business, and emotional topics. So rather than present them as one thought, I thought I’d list the tastiest kernels.

Read the entire commentary here.

Agree or disagree with his insights and observations? As always, we welcome your comments.

Illustration credit here.

Related resource(s) here.

Beat the Odds to Win

Women Push Forward

I refuse to focus on "what's holding women back" because I think there's absolutely nothing getting in our way.

Sadly enough though, some women still consider it risky to pursue power in the Corporate world and that's the emphasis of this contribution by The New York Times blogger Adriana Gardella.

All the more reason to start a business and become an entrepreneur.

The comments are worth a look.

Photo credit here.

Woman's Entrepreneurial Sweet Spot?

According to this roundup of the latest venture capital news and analysis across the Web, a woman's entrepreneurial sweet spot age is 40. Anyone wish to challenge that?

Does the world need a Y Combinator for women? New York-based entrepreneur Tereza Nemessanyi proposes the XX Combinator, a start-up accelerator focused on women in their 40s. The problem with Y Combinator, Nemessayni says, is that only seven of the 250 founders participating in the program have been female. She argues that Y Combinator participants are mostly in there early 20s but that a woman’s “entrepreneurial sweet spot” is around age 40. Venture capitalists Fred Wilson weighs in, saying that while there certainly is a shortage of women entrepreneurs, “a different model is required if this were to work” (though he’s not sure what that is.).

Original source on passage above can be found here.

Drink Up Ladies to a Powerful New Feeling of Well-Being

Julie Smolyansky is the chief executive officer, president and director of Lifeway Foods Inc. Its main business activity is the manufacturing of probiotic, cultured, functional dairy and non-dairy health food products (pictured above).

Smolyansky inherited (instant entrepreneur) the top spot at Lifeway Foods when she was 27 (2002) and not in a way in which she has fond memories.

Read her back story on how she has built the food company into a powerful force here.

Wave of the Future: More Women at the Business Table as Both Equal and Different Partners with Men

Learn what motivates women in the workplace (discover where companies go wrong and why many women leave Corporate America for entrepreneurship) and find out how companies that learn to adapt to women will be better able to respond to the challenge of an aging workforce and the demands of the next generation of knowledge workers.

"Why Women Mean Businesss" by Avivah Wittenberg-Cox (related post involving Avivah here) and Alison Maitland

11 Wild and Crazy Tips for Disruptive Thinking

What a practical article and we are so pleased to be mentioned in it. Read it and do something disruptive today as it relates to your business!

Here's the lead:

Stepping sideways to see things from another angle often leads to breakthrough thinking, which in turn creates new markets and topples traditional ones. Innovation is a top strategic priority for a large majority of companies today. As such, creativity — arguably the driving force behind successful innovation — is increasingly gaining recognition as the new capital in uncertain and challenging economic times. For people trying to innovate and work within a creative, adaptive culture, we offer 11 ideas for extreme outside-the-box thinking.

Read the entire article:
An Idea So Crazy it Might Work: Tips for Disruptive Thinking
IMT Industry Market Trends

Posted by: the official Escape From Corporate America blog

Happy Birthday No. 234 to America and No. 6 to the official Escape From Corporate America blog!

Freedom comes in many forms -- the best is when you choose it for yourself. We wish you a Happy Independence Day United States and a Happy Birthday No. 6 for the official Escape From Corporate America blog! Refresh your memory in terms of how it all began for us here.

In celebration of both birthdays, our gift to you is twofold:

1. A hearty thanks for your continued support and loyal readership. Without you, this blog would not be nearly as much fun to produce. We love what we do here (can't you tell?!), so we just keep doing it. Yet we never lose sight of the fact, we do it for you! Thanks for listening, for commenting from time to time and for reading our blog.

2. We just compiled a new (FREE!) e-book, "Entrepreneurial Obsession: 13 ways to a brighter future for your business." It's yours to do what you wish with. We hope it inspires you to escape from corporate America to start your own business.

Best wishes,
Laurel
July 4, 2010

Posted by: The Escape From Corporate America blog

Women Can Grow a Million Dollar Baby

According to Michelle Stockman who works with Little Rock-based Arkansas Capital Corp. to promote entrepreneurship development around the state, women may not be as active in entrepreneurship as men but they sure know how to grow a business to a million dollar+ baby.

Read more here.

You might also appreciate this related piece.

Posted by: Escape From Corporate America blog

Pulling Men Into a Woman's Entrepreneurial Universe

The old days used to be about women trying to get ahead in the working world of primarily men. Then entrepreneurship took hold, leveling the playing field and allowing women to jump out of corporate America to create their own world of work.

Now, there's a new twist on feminism (or what I call a woman's ambition):

Katrin Bennhold, New York Times: Historically, feminism has been "about women pushing into the world of men," but the future of feminism "is shaping up to be about pulling men into women's universe -- ...

Read more here and here.

There's the Official Escape From Corporate America Blog. Now, There's Corporate Mom Dropouts

We've seen and heard it all ... first by getting wind that there was a book out by the same name as our blog, "Escape From Corporate America" (hey -- we warned them well in advance that there might be confusion or a potential conflict but there's no stopping people who think they have a good idea at the time). Anyway, we started our escape blog way back on July 2, 2004 -- nobody can claim that idea! It was tied to an article I wrote for The Conference Board (2003).

Now there's a new blog, "Corporate Mom Dropouts" launched earlier this year (2010). Check it out here.

Best wishes and congratulations to all who support women interested in creating their own destinies! There can never be enough of us around helping other women achieve their dreams.

Posted by: The official Escape From Corporate America blog

Women Are the Solution

Find out why at Half The Sky.

Half the Sky lays out an agenda for the world's women and three major abuses: sex trafficking and forced prostitution; gender-based violence including honor killings and mass rape; maternal mortality, which needlessly claims one woman a minute. We know there are many worthy causes competing for attention in the world. We focus on this one because this kind of oppression feels transcendent – and so does the opportunity. Outsiders can truly make a difference.

Photo credit: Half The Sky homepage. Edna Adan's story here.

Setup a Save Yourself Plan

According to Suze Orman (pictured), women need to setup a "save yourself plan" that includes knowing everything there is to know about your finances, having credit cards in your own name and making sure that your financial foundations don’t have any cracks in them whatsoever.

This applies to all women, not just women entrepreneurs.

Read more here.

Side note: Interesting little article which mentions Orman but focuses on "10 membership worth the money."

Advice For Young Women Entrepreneurs

A Q&A with Maria Fiorini Ramirez (pictured), founder of the global economic consulting firm Maria Fiorini Ramirez, Inc — conducted by Reuters.

One key question:

Would you like to see more women starting businesses?

I think women are starting more businesses than men. In part, because they have to. It’s necessary to have a two income couple these days. The internet has unleashed infinite possibilities. But it is an individual choice. Not everybody can do it. Although countries like Japan are realizing that they have to make it attractive to keep women in the workforce.

Visit her company:
Maria Fiorini Ramirez, Inc.

Agree? Disagree? We welcome your thoughts!

Impulsive Entrepreneurship

It looks as though Ellen DeGeneres (pictured) is starting her own record label called eleveneleven. What triggered this impulsive entrepreneurial endeavor? Two things:

1. A season of judging on "American Idol."
2. A first act of 12-year-old Greyson Chance (pictured), who recently became a sensation on YouTube (25,000,000+ views!) with his piano version of Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi."

Read more here and here.

Photo credit: Michael Rozman/Warner Bros/Associated Press)

As An Entrepreneur, Do You Consider Yourself a Feminist?

It's about life choices. Read this article and let me know what you think.

First, though, author's comment:

After all, it isn’t exactly cool to be a capital-F Feminist in 2010, when many people find the term antiquated and the battle for equality over.

Young Feminists, Where Art Thou?

For the Love of Baking, Please Turn It Into a Business

Owners Annette Pratt (pictured) and Linda Spyke of The Flour Uprising, turned their love of baking into a business that specializes in healthy baked goods.

Learn more about it here.

The Flour Uprising | Facebook

Photo: Annette Pratt, co-founder of The Flour Uprising (credit here)

Lifting Struggling Entrepreneurs Out of the Ashes

Maria Shriver (pictured) talks about a lending partnership that is intended to pool money and resources to help women across the nation who need financial backing for their businesses.

A key quote from her that totally relates to this blog:

“We live in a different world today than we did 20 years ago,” she said. “More and more people are leaving corporate America to start their own business that will allow for them to raise a child or care for an elderly parent.”

Read the entire article here.

Check out WE Invest.

What Business Books Inspire Women Entrepreneurs?

Kelly Watson for Forbes writes a wonderful article:

Twenty-One Women Entrepreneurs Reveal Their Favorite Business Books
Even the savviest businesswomen get their inspiration from somewhere. Find out what's on their nightstands.

We like the fact that Kelly went to such great lengths to feature so many fabulous entrepreneurs -- many that we know -- and it's interesting to discover that several of them enjoy the works of Malcolm Gladwell and Dan Pink (me too!).

Check it out here.

What business books keep you inspired and propelled to achieve greatness in your life?