How to Get Sensational Media Coverage on the Cheap

Say you just started a business and you don't know anybody or who to contact to get media attention.  Where do you start?  Celestine Chua (pictured) is founder of the site Personal Excellence.  Below she provides excellent tips on how to get media coverage.  Hint:  It all begins by being pro-active!

One example she provides:

Example:  One of the story angles which I brainstormed when I started my business (2008) was the fact that I had quit a prestigious, well-paying job to pursue my passion - from nothing. This was considered unconventional in the context of the Singapore society (at that time, at least) because most locals conformed to the view that one should stay in a stable job with financial security and an iron rice bowl —the complete opposite of what I did. Hence, I used that as the angle for one of my press releases, and it was eventually picked up by several media outlets (Today, OMY, Lianhe Zaobao, AsiaOne, among a few other sites).

Read:  How to Get Media Coverage for Your Business, Blog, or Startup 

Illustration credit here.

Negotiating a Commercial Property Lease

Are you about to sign on a commercial property lease for your new business?  Or perhaps you simply need more space.

... the abundance of choice and favorable market conditions for potential tenants can prove an enticing prospect for budding entrepreneurs and small business owners. However, even in a buyer’s market, negotiating a commercial lease is a daunting and complex process that requires research and due diligence.

Below are some helpful tips for leasing a space for your small business.  If you've got more, please let us know!

6 Tips for Negotiating a Commercial Property Lease without Getting Burned

Challenges For Women Who Start Businesses

Related article here.

The Artist: Mae Chevrette

Meet 25-year old mixed media artist, photographer, writer, traveler and all around lover of adventures and the unknown, Mae Chevrette.

What influences her work?

Numerous solo cross-country road trips and travel abroad as well as an insatiable curiosity for interesting people, places and stories.

Take a tour of her creative work here.

Illustration credit:  Mae Chevrette

Happy Birthday No. 236 to the United States and No. 8 to the Official Escape From Corporate America Blog!

Photo courtesy:  ©Laurel Delaney 2012, "USA flag, Chicago"

Happy 8th Birthday to the official Escape From Corporate America blog and Happy 236th Birthday America!  Enjoy the day and thank you for your readership.

Celebrate freedom and all your successes!

For a little bit of history about this blog, including last year's post, go here.

Photo credit:  ©Laurel Delaney 2012 - Wrigley Building, Chicago proudly featuring our USA flag.

Boost Your Business: Attend Live Events

According to Stacia Pierce (pictured), a great way to boost your business and take it to the next level is by attending live events. She says:

As entrepreneurs and leaders, it’s important to break out of your comfort zone and get away to business conferences. It’s your opportunity to completely remove yourself from your business and the pressures of your everyday life to get inspired, invigorated and empowered to take your business and life up.

Read all of her advice at: Keep Your Business Thriving By Attending Live Events

Will There Ever Be a Society That Works For Women?

What the authors discovered:

What we discovered in our research is that while the empowerment part of the equation has been loudly celebrated, there has been very little honest discussion among women of our age about the real barriers and flaws that still exist in the system despite the opportunities we inherited.

Why Women Can't Have It All

Posted by:  Escape From Corporate America (Laurel Delaney)

Corporate Climber Turns Business Owner

I love getting emails like this, especially on a Sunday, because it tells me somebody is really working it:

Hi there Laurel,

I'm a former corporate climber (spent 10 years building an architecture career) who just picked up the keys to my first business location as an entrepreneur last weekend. I'm opening a private fitness studio, the culmination of a two-year journey towards total self-employment and fulfillment. It's been a terrifying, exciting, challenging, and thrilling process.

I'm in a position of finding creative solutions, like so many women do, to make this work, so I've launched a crowdfunding campaign (refer below) to support this startup and fill in the gaps between my budget and our dreams for this studio.

Would you consider sharing my story and this campaign on your blog? I'm reaching out for creative ways to spread the word and connect with women who get what I'm going through.

You can check out the campaign at indiegogo and please email me if I can share more about what we're trying to do.

Katrina Cobb, Owner, NASM CPT
reFORM Studios Personal Training
North Charleston, SC  U.S.A.

Visit: reFORM Studios Personal Training | Your premiere personal training experience

Illustration credit:  reFORM Studios Personal Training

Best wishes and much success Katrina and we do get what you are going through! 

Is It the Right Time to Start a Business?

Go For It!

The next Wendy Kopp (pictured) could be starting their business right now.

Will it be you?

A new study says almost 600-thousand new businesses are created each year by young adults right out of college.

Catch the remarks from a clothing shop owner about why she felt the need to start her own business rather than work for someone else.

Read the entire article here.

Escape From Work To Honor the Fallen

Photo courtesy:  ©Laurel Delaney 2012

As you escape from work to celebrate Memorial Day, don't forget to honor the men and women who have so bravely served our nation, the United States of America.

Enjoy the day.

Photo credit: ©Laurel Delaney 2012, "Evanston, Illinois lakefront"

Calling All Female Entrepreneurs to the Ultimate Chicago Digital Hub: 1871

1871 provides co-working space, along with a sense of community and features educational programming, events and seminars to help foster the growth of digital startups in Chicago.  Many refer to it as "a start up for start ups."

The name "1871" was inspired by the period of rapid innovation that followed immediately after The Great Chicago Fire in October of that year, when leading engineers, designers and builders came together to build a new city.

I've visited 1871 several times (located in the Merchandise Mart) and they definitely could use more females.  What are you waiting for?

Read the latest cool news about 1871 here. 

Photo courtesy:  ©Laurel Delaney 2012, "1871"

Live Life On Your Own Terms: Start a Business

Many women start a business because they want to develop their own schedules, on their own terms. 

Starting a business explicitly to raise children sounds like one too many projects, but a growing number of women make it work. Being behind the steering wheel of their own ventures allows women to take detours (to the school play, doctors and grandmas). In fact, integrating work and family is one of the top reasons why women start businesses, according to research. 

Learn more about the realities of starting a business while starting a family here.

Illustration credit:  Becky's Pet Care Inc. (as noted in article)

Be Inspired: Start a Business

Kick It Up a Notch: Open a Retail Store

Janice Winterboer, owner of Twigs, kicks it up a notch.  She got out of the retail sector for awhile, but continued to operate her interior design business out of her home.

“I decided to bring it up a notch and opened the store at 6 E. Third Ave. Then we outgrew that space and moved to Broad Street, the former Roman Rose Antique store,” Winterboer said. “We do floral design as well.”

Read the entire article here.

The Young and the Restless Female Entrepreneurs

YoungEntrepreneur.com brings you stories about innovative startups and their enthusiastic founders.

For example, instead of featuring an article here, we'll provide you with a forum thread:

What does it take to be a truly successful female entrepreneur?

These passionate young female entrepreneurs are bypassing Corporate America altogether!  See what others have to say here.

Here's one comment:

I think it takes hard work and determination, and a little help from veterans in the business field along the way.

Illustration credit here.

Finding a Balance Between Work and Home: Start an Online Business

Everyone who has kids and worked up until that point has these thoughts: how to have a career but at the same time, be available for your kids.

Keri Zingle worked as an engineer for high-tech firms in Ottawa and Vancouver.  Here's her quick backstory:

After having two children, she struggled to find a balance between work and home. She decided to become a stay-at-home mom and began her own online business, Craft Caravan. The subscription service is $10 each month for a new craft project shipped to your home. Suitable for children aged two to eight, Zingle tests the crafts on her brood before approving them for retail sales.

She offers advice for other stay-at-home moms thinking about starting their own business and explains why engineering and crafting share a lot of similarities.

Read the entire article here.

Illustration credit:  Craft Caravan

Working For Yourself

Frustrated with the lack of play areas where she could take her three children, Shyanne Lamb started Kenosha-based Playnasium.  Playnasium is ...

An indoor play area, the space offers everything from playground equipment, to bounce houses, to playhouses, to Lego blocks, to puzzles and coloring for kids from 0 to 5.

Fast-forward four months. In addition to the kids playing, Ms. Lamb has hosted events including a vendor fair, birthday parties, a magician and an Easter egg hunt.

Learn more about Lamb's initiative and what else is going on in Wisconsin when it comes to women business ownership - read:

Women-owned firms growing in Wisconsin

Business Ownership Requires: Guts, Backbone and a Can-Do Spirit

That's what Marci Marceau practices -- guts, backbone and a can-do spirit -- to achieve success with her business, Luz's Mexican Food.

According to a recent report by American Express OPEN:

The number of women-owned businesses across the United States increased 54 percent over the past 15 years. That was a rate one a half times the average for all other businesses.

Marceau also attributes her Mom as a role model for encouraging her to go into business for herself.

Read her story here.

Photo credit:  DaMory Diapers -- also featured in the article.

Latinas Leaving Corporate America?

According to Dr. Placida Gallegos:

788,000 Latinas now run their own businesses, according to the most recent Survey of Business Owners (last conducted in 2007). This represents a 46% increase against a 20% found across all female business owners over a five-year period.

Find out three (3) reasons why Latinas are leaving corporate America and becoming entrepreneurs here.

Hint:  Meaningful work plays into it. Doesn't it for all of us?

Illustration credit:  The Magazine | Latina