The Ice House Entrepreneurship Program

Ice House Entrepreneurship is a powerful new online learning program that enables participants to learn from today’s most successful entrepreneurs.  It is designed to inspire and engage the next generation in the unlimited opportunities that an entrepreneurial mindset can provide.

To learn more, visit:

The Ice House Entrepreneurship Program
powered by Kauffman, the Foundation of Entrepreneurship

Are you ready to take your own destiny into your hands?

Older Women Becoming Entrepreneurs

If you are thinking about starting a business, is your age a consideration?  I hope not.  For more women -- young and old(er) -- are starting businesses at record rates.  According to Barclays (UK), older entrepreneurs are responsible for 50 percent more start-ups than they were ten years ago and account for 15 percent of all new businesses (in England and Wales).  I am sure the United States has an even higher rate of women starting businesses at a later age.

The article below highlights Professor Diana Anderson (pictured) who set up her first business, OncaScan, with the notion of marketing her new invention, a blood test that predicts an individual's genetic predisposition to cancer.  No small time goal.  She says:

"I'm not proud to have started my first business so late in life for the simple reason that my age never occurs to me," she says. "Until I am no longer able to contribute, I only think of staying at the coalface of my profession. My future plans are to make my business a success, win more grants for my university and guide more of my students towards their PhDs."

Learn more:  Not the retiring kind

Does this article speak to you?

Establish and Sustain Your Startup

Wisconsin Women Entrepreneurs (WWE), a nonprofit business association, helps improve and enhance the economic climate for female entrepreneurs who are looking to grow their business and foster new relationships.

Learn more about how they might assist you as you establish and sustain your startup.

Photo credit:  WWE.

Best News I've Heard This Month: CNN Dumps Spitzer

I just want everyone inside and outside of Corporate America to know how happy I am about this.  CNN dumps Eliot Spitzer from its lineup.  Ever since Spitzer's involvement as a client in a high-priced prostitution ring (2008) and CNN's subsequent hiring of him, I stopped watching CNN.  What were they thinking?

Applause to the folks at CNN for finally getting their act together.  Now I can continue to watch one of my favorites -- Anderson Cooper -- without guilt.

There's my two cents for the week!  What's yours?

Photo credit:  New York Times, "Spitzer Is Linked to Prostitution Ring."

Posted by:  The official Escape From Corporate America blog

Women Entrepreneurs Drive U.S. Economy

Hush, hush ... new news is that women entrepreneurs are a significant force in driving the U.S. economy.  Did you know?  Of course you did!

Read all about it here.  You may have missed the roundtables they speak of but you can still learn about the five mistakes female business owners tend to make so that you don't make them yourself!

Happy Birthday No. 235 to the United States and No. 7 to the Official Escape From Corporate America Blog!

Happy Independence Day United States.  Whatever you are doing at this moment, stop and count your blessings for the privilege to live in a country where opportunity abounds.  Freedom is something one should never take for granted - only used to do what you wish.

And while you are celebrating, raise a glass in our honor to toast Birthday No. 7 for Escape For Corporate America!  Yes, it's been that long since we started this blog (click here to see how an article I authored planted the seed for this blog) and since then, you have been following us religiously.  So thanks for that  -- we appreciate your readership very much -- and we hope you continue to stay with us year after year as we feature stories relating to women who embark on the challenging journey of breaking away from Corporate America to start a business.

The picture (shown above)?  I took it over the weekend while running along the Chicago lakefront.  It symbolizes much of what I think this blog is about:  power, equality and starting a business!

Note:  Last year we gave you a free gift in honor of our double celebration.  If you haven't already opened it, do so now to get the inspiration you need to start a business:  Entrepreneurial Obsession:  13 Ways to Create a Brighter Future For Your Business.

Best wishes for continued success!  Back with you soon.

Net-A-This, Net-A-That

First there was Net-A-Porter.com, now there's the sister site:  The Outnet.com.

And there's the female Director behind The Outnet.com:  Stephanie Phair (pictured).

Each month, The Outnet receives over one million unique visitors, less than ten percent of which overlap with the existing Net-a-Porter customer base. The United States, where The Outnet has experienced year on year growth of over 90 percent, now constitutes its biggest market. And, 70 percent of the product on The Outnet does not come from Net-a-Porter, so The Outnet has its own buying teams and relationships with brand partners. All of this seems to be working wonders, leading to an estimated annual turnover of more than $50 million, something that took more than 5 years for Net-a-Porter to achieve.

Visit The Outnet.com

This Is Why You Should Start a Business

Love To Sell, Or Else

If you are contemplating starting a business, you better love to sell, or else.  Or else ... for those who hate to sell, you will have a much more challenging path ahead to achieve business success.

Over at the Entrepreneur blog, creative writer Carol Tice offers eight tips (five from author Julie Steelman and three of her own) on how to overcome a reluctance to sell.

How Entrepreneurs Can Conquer Fear of Selling

Illustration credit here.

Does Your New Business Idea Have Momentum?

Whether you are launching a new career, product or business, one has to look at whether the idea is sustainable, or has momentum.

Jeff DeGraff (pictured), clinical professor of management and organizations at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, has created a series for PBS that launches at 8 p.m. Thursday on WTVS-TV (Channel 56). In case you've never heard of DeGraff, he is known as an innovation guru.

Individuals who want to re-create their lives or careers, DeGraff said, need to realize that you sometimes need to think of several ways to innovate.

Once you test something out, he said, you are better able to figure out what has more momentum.

Learn more about DeGraff and his new program here.  It might be just the jolt you need to get your business off the ground.

Before Starting a Business, Discover Your Strengths

What can a single mother of five do to provide a stable future for her kids?  You guessed it.  Start a business.

An expert provides three steps to move forward.  Go here to find out what they are.

Illustration credit:  Ms. CEO

Work For Yourself

Be your own boss.  Why not?

Adults do it. Kids can do it, too. What they ‘do’ is run their own business. If you are interested in becoming a ‘Chief Executive Officer,’ get started with a business plan. There are many excellent resources to get you on your way to your dream.

 Learn more here.

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!