Overcoming Challenges to Launch and Grow a Business

GE Capital (as illustrated above) helps women to jump-start their own businesses by providing specialized training, business mentorship and access to micro-financing loans. In addition to 15 weeks of intensive course work and training, the program, Banking on Women, offers ongoing assistance for all participants.

This particular program takes place in Salt Lake City, Utah.  GE Capital is working with Utah Microenterprise Loan Fund and The Institute for New Enterprise at Westminster College.

Learn more here.  Direct link:  Banking on Women

Extreme Sport: Entrepreneurship

MTV applauds women entrepreneurs in technology and media.  And one in particular is Alexandra Wilkis Wilson of Gilt Groupe Inc.

Gilt Groupe started out in 2007 as an online sample sale destination for the fashion savvy shopper. The website’s original three founders Kevin Ryan, Alexis Maybank and Alexandra Wilkis Wilson (at left) have recently realized huge success after the valuation of Gilt Groupe doubled from one year ago to $1 Billion. Not so bad after just four years as an e-commerce merchant!

Read the entire article here.

Related: NCWIT Entrepreneurial Heroes is a series of magazine-style audio interviews highlighting fabulous women entrepreneurs in information technology (IT) careers.  Listen in here.

Top photo credit here.

Don't Reinvent the Wheel

Starting a business is easier than you think and thanks to the Internet, more doable than ever these days.

Here are seven steps to get you moving!

First one:

Ordinary is just fine, so don't reinvent the wheel. The best ideas are often the tried and true ones that are already successful now.

Let's hope Maria follows this same advice.

Quench Your Thirst: Waialua Soda Works

Karen Campbell and her husband Jason know how to fizz things up a bit.  They run Hawaii-based Waialua Soda Works, Inc., an old-fashioned soda company founded in 2003, inspired by the elements familiar to the Hawaiian Islands.

The company uses only clear glass bottles (as shown), pure cane sugar, and natural flavors to make its mango, root beer, pineapple and vanilla cream sodas.

Learn more about Waialua Soda Works.  Cost Plus World Market and Whole Foods carry it.   Also visit their Facebook page.

How to Start a Business in Your PJs

The Scent For a Strange Woman

Are you seeking a one of a kind experience when it comes to perfume?  Then you're at the right place, at the right time!

Strange Women is a collection of 100% natural artisan perfume, bath salts, lip balm, candles and other eccentricities fragranced with essential oils and plant absolutes.  The net result is a much safer and more satisfying to the senses fragrance.

These wonderful concoctions are produced by Jill McKeever (pictured).  Go shopping here.

To Succeed in Business, Change Must Be Constant

If Kim Garrity hadn’t made more changes than a young woman trying on shoes with her business -- Sole Sisters -- then it wouldn’t exist today.

Learn what she means here.

Posted by: The original Escape From Corporate America blog

Mandatory Reading for Anyone Considering Starting a Business

That's according to 800 CEO Read and based on Carol Roth's new book, The Entrepreneur Equation:  Evaluating the Realities, Risks, and Rewards of Having Your Own Business.

Find out if entrepreneurship is right for you!

She Wants Freedom; She Got it Through Business Ownership

For those who don't already know this:  The number of women-owned businesses is on the rise!  Learn more about this trend and about women business owners who have found success (including Tina Fey, pictured, who seems to do her own thing and do it exceptionally well).

First though:

The latest U.S. Census data shows that women start businesses at one-and-a-half times the national rate and are estimated to own just over 8.1 million enterprises. Those businesses generate nearly $1.3 trillion in revenue and employ 7.7 million Americans, according to the recently released American Express OPEN State of Women-Owned Business Report.

"She's the boss:  More women are starting their own businesses"

Snowboarder to Entrepreneur

Take a Deep Breath and Follow Your Dreams

Three women follow their dreams ...  are you?

1.  Nora Jewett
From lawyer to fashion designer

2.  Becky Bartsch
From Radio City Rockette to fourth-grade teacher (yes, you read that right!)

3.  Dr. Laura Michaelis
From reporter for Congressional Weekly and City News Bureau to hermatologist/oncologist

Find out how they mustered up the courage to follow their dreams -- here.

Photography shots for article by Saverio Truglia.

Creating New Opportunities Means Taking the Route of Entrepreneurship

Today (4/11/11), The Wall Street Journal has a special feature:  Women in the Economy

Here are the links to some of the articles which focus on what's holding women back in the workplace:

Where Are All the Senior Level Women?

Tales From the Frontline

The Global View

It's Partly Your Head

You can talk until you drop about women in the workplace -- what's holding them back or how to create an action plan to support new opportunities -- but the real route to freedom, flexibility and being who you are is through entrepreneurship.

Photo credit here (L-R:  Robert Zoellick, Sandra Day O'Connor and Wei Sun Christianson)

Posted by:  The Official Escape From Corporate America Blog, chronicling why more and more women are abandoning big companies to strike out on their own.

Flexibility Matters to Women in the Workforce

And that includes women entrepreneurs.  In fact, when companies do not offer flexible work hours to women who need it for family reasons, the women leave and oftentimes start their own businesses.

Read: 'Mommy Track' Without Shame by Virginia Postrel for The Wall Street Journal

Snippet:

Many strike out on their own, establishing consulting practices that permit flexible, project-based work. "MBA mothers," the economists write, "seem to actively choose jobs that are family-friendly, and avoid jobs with long hours and greater career-advancement possibilities."

Brings back a lot of very old and dated memories. Thank goodness women have wised up and have taken control of their professional destinies!

Posted by: The Official Escape From Corporate America Blog

For the Love of Making Things, Meet Alicia Paulson

I've been following Alicia Paulson's blog, "Posie Gets Cozy," for years.  It's one of my best kept secrets.  She (visit her site here) loves to make things, shows you how to do it with great passion and takes fabulous pictures in the process.  Her readers comment like crazy which is wonderful.

Pour yourself a cup of tea and explore her site. You have to wonder how she does it.  Check out her books too.

Photo credit:  Posie Gets Cozy

Are You Jam'n With Blue Chair Fruit?

Oakland, California-based Blue Chair Fruit Company is an artisanal jam and marmalade company which has redefined preserving through its distinctive brand of modern nostalgia and their exacting approach to fruit and flavors.

Founded by Rachel Saunders (pictured) in February 2008, Blue Chair Fruit is the product of nearly ten years of intensive research on fruit and fruit preserving techniques.

Her company claims:

In all aspects of our company, from the contents of each jar to packaging to our online presence to the definitive Blue Chair Jam Cookbook, Blue Chair Fruit emphasizes a modern spin on this traditional art.

If you're not jam'n with and buying products from Blue Chair Fruit, you ought to be.  All products are made by hand.

Give them a look and a try:  Blue Chair Fruit.  And our kudos to Rachel for finally striking out on her own!

Photo credit here (Kat Brett)

Love At First Business

A powerful New York executive, Tasia Malakasis (pictured) moves back home to Alabama (11 years ago) to start her dream business:  Fromagerie Belle Chevre where she now crafts award-winning goat cheeses.

Her key advice:

"Entrepreneurship takes a certain personality. Don't tackle something unless it makes you feel alive every day." ~ Tasia Malakasis

Learn more about her escape from Corporate America to following her passion here.

Photo credit here.

Life's Short: Start a Business

The Pied Piper of the Blogging World

That's what I have been called by my savvy sister Te-Erika over at My Savvy Sisters -- an online magazine dedicated to providing resources, inspiration and guidance to women that will empower them to survive and thrive in life.

Te-Erika asks me:

"What are the top 3 reasons women won’t plan their Escape From Corporate America?"

Read the interview here to find out why many women don't leave Corporate America:

Savvy Blogger We Love - Laurel Delaney (Escape From Corporate America)

What a thrill to be featured. A big thank you to Te-Erika Patterson, inspirational journalist and author, for making this interview happen.

Finding Strength to Persevere

Securing Financing Is Critical To Any Business

There is a big gap when it comes to finding financing between female and male entrepreneurs.  Female entrepreneurs usually have to provide lenders with more documentation – such as personal financial statements, appraisals of assets and cash flow projections – than male entrepreneurs.

Do you think it is primarily a "female" issue?  Weigh in if you have the time.

In the meantime, read a good article about it here.