Millionaire Women Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley, Ph.D.

In Thomas J. Stanley's new book, "Millionaire Women Next Door"

Over the weekend I celebrated my birthday and was given Stanley's latest book as a gift. I have not had a chance to read it yet, only scan the front/back covers and table of contents. It looks very interesting and I want to share the back cover's most poignant statement:

"Most Americans are not free. They are chained to their paychecks ... The women profiled herein will not tolerate such an existence. They are a different breed. They are free. They are cultivators of wealth and satisfied with life. They are in control of their own destiny."

Ring true with many of you?

Women-Owned Firms Find Triad To Their Liking

In MSNBC (The Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area)

I like the ending best on this feature:

"It is getting so much easier for women -- there's so many more resources for us to start and grow our own business. It's just going to be phenomenal."

But if you wish to read the entire article, visit: Women-Owned Firms Find Triad To Their Liking

"Translating Ideas Into Success" ... this one's for all of you!

In Mackinac Center for Public Policy

Before I move on to a speech that Joseph Lehman delivered to open the inaugural Asian Resource Bank, I want to first thank all of you who emailed me personally on the "Glass Ceiling" article. As it did for me, the essay resonated with many of you. And always feel free to post your feelings, beliefs or opinions whenever you like on this blog. That's what it is here for. But if you feel more comfortable contacting me on a personal basis (ldelaney@laureldelaney.com), that's fine too. Just glad you all liked the piece.

Now, on to the speech. I am posting this because Lehman talks about many of the characteristics (optimism, perseverance and so forth) necessary to become a good entrepreneur or business owner. The speech is entitled, "Translating Ideas Into Success," and many of you might be thinking along these lines -- whether it be by leaving your corporate job to start a new business or to "focus" on an idea that is brewing in your head -- this talk is for you.

In particular, I am highlighting the section on entrepreneurship for I find it liberating to read such a thoughtful piece:

~~~~~~~~~~

Entrepreneurship

The next ingredient for translating ideas into success is entrepreneurship. I don’t mean just talking and writing about it. I mean being an entrepreneur.

To really shift the window of political possibility, we have to get out of the purely academic mindset, where the goal is writing reports and studies. Our success is not measured by how much paper we push out the door. We succeed only if we actually shift policy in the right direction, and to do so requires an entrepreneurial approach.

Successful entrepreneurs are focused. They have lots of ideas, but they figure out their comparative advantage and spend their energy there. They don’t run in all directions trying anything that seems interesting.

This means that entrepreneurs are planners, but not in the sense of stifling creativity and flexibility. A good entrepreneur makes plans that avoid both rigid bureaucracy and unfocused, free-wheeling frenzies of activity.

Entrepreneurs are problem-solvers. They don’t just try to copy what works in other countries — they become the experts at applying freedom ideas and overcoming obstacles in their own countries.

~~~~~~~~~~

To read the entire speech, visit: Translating Ideas Into Success

Women and The Glass Ceiling

In LeaderValues

I was contacted today by LeaderValues for permission to publish a couple of my articles. In reviewing their web site, I stumbled upon this provocative article written in 1998 by Helen Peters of Hagberg Consulting Group, who specialize in the assessment and development of executive leadership and organizational effectiveness. The article starts out like this:

• Recent research indicates women's management style, which is centered on communication and building positive relationships, is well suited to the leadership paradigm of the 90's. However, the strategies used by women to reach mid-management levels are preventing them from breaking through the glass ceiling. There are specific things women must start doing and stop doing if they want to move into the executive suite. The research is of obvious importance to women managers, but has implications for men as well. To be successful, both men and women must be able to get bottom-line results through people-oriented leadership practices.

In 1971 I got my first real job. I quickly learned many of the realities of life, among them that women could not be managers. We were not worth investing in because we would just get married, get pregnant, and quit. We were too emotional. In fact, once a month we would do something that remained undefined, but was assumed to be totally unacceptable. Most importantly, we would be taking a good job from a man who really needed it, and by implication, deserved it. 

Times changed ...

It goes on further to report that progress up the corporate ladder will require women to do five things:

1. Start focusing energy.

2. Start taking risks.

3. Stop getting mired in the details.

4. Stop rescuing and mothering.

5. Stop making things right or wrong.

I couldn't help think that the five steps apply to both making progress up the corporate ladder and owning a business. Interesting.

For women who are still trying to make it in the corporate world instead of charging out on their own, this is a worthwhile read. The full article, regardless that it is six years old, can be found here: Women and The Glass Ceiling (1998)

Hey, hey ... women's businesses exceed overall growth rate!

In Business Journal Phoenix

• A study of the top 50 metropolitan areas by Wells Fargo and the Center for Women's Business Research found that women-owned small businesses grew by 30 percent from 1997 to 2004, compared to 10 percent growth for all firms over the same time period.

And here is the best point made in the article:

"Even during uncertain times, innovative and determined women business owners are doing their part to ensure this economy continues moving in the right direction," says Sharon Hadary, Executive Director of the Center For Women's Business Research.

To read the entire article, visit:
Women's Businesses Exceed Overall Growth Rate

Here's another good feature about it by Matt Quinn at Inc.:
Women-owned Firms Growing Quickly in Big Cities

Women Execs Tell of Climb -> but no word of jumping into entrepreneurship

In Enquirer

This article is all about climbing the corporate ladder and when you read it, you might ask yourself: Is it worth it?

To read the entire article, visit:
Women Execs Tell of Climb

The New Mothers of Invention! Phenomenal article!

In Businessweek

What a spectacular article! I am so excited that I'll just mention a couple of highlights quickly:

• J.E. Bedi researched female innovators for the Lemelson Center at The Smithsonian Institution, and what she found is summarized in her eye-opening paper, Exploring the History of Women Inventors. According to Bedi, during the 20th century, women patented an ice-cream freezer, a transmitter for torpedoes, a feeding device for amputees, and Kevlar, which is used in bullet proof vests. Can our children name any of these women? Are their contributions taught in schools?

• Today, women have their names on approximately 10% of all patents -- a tenfold increase over 1910 (when less than 1% of all patents were by women). Despite this increase, the gender gap in entrepreneurship continues to widen. In 2003, two men were involved in entrepreneurial activities for every woman, according to the research by Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM).

• Despite this gender gap, entrepreneurial activity among women continues to grow. The number of women-owned businesses in the U.S. has increased by 14% in the last five years, according to the Center for Women's Business Research (CWBR). Today, nearly half of all privately held businesses in the U.S. are women-owned.

• Clearly, today's female business owners are a positive influence on future women entrepreneurs.

To read the entire article, visit: The New Mothers of Invention

"Yes, Ambition Is Good, But How You Display It Can Get You in Trouble" -> But not if you are an entrepreneur!

In The Wall Street Journal, 9/14/04 (subscription)

One of my favorite WSJ columnists, Carol Hymowitz, wrote a really terrific piece, "Yes, Ambition Is Good, But How You Display It Can Get You in Trouble," and the reason I am bringing it up is because the ending is right in line with this blogger:

• "Sharon Mosse, who heds Strategic Marketing Group, a New York marketing consultant, feels freer to assert herself and gain recognition as an entrepreneur than when she worked in corporate settings. She used to be chief marketing officer at Barnes & Noble and before that a marketing executive at Verizon and Brooks Brothers. "Ambition to me means trying to do the job right, to solve problems and come up with ideas -- but sometimes that was interpreted as coming on too strong," she says. "Now I'm being hired to provide a senior point of view, and I'm expected to talk freely and broadly about my opinions."

"Entrepreneurship allows you to be who you are, have a voice and be as ambitious as ever!" -- Laurel

eBay chief says women have opportunities on auction site

In Detroit Free Press

Meg Whitman, president and CEO of eBay Inc., will be giving a talk in Detroit tomorrow (9/15), returning to where she used to work -- FTD. com in Southfield. She was interviewed for this article and here are a couple of snippets she talked about relating to women and women-owned businesses:

• "And we know that 48 percent of those users are women," said Whitman, a 1979 Princeton University graduate and Harvard MBA who worked at Procter & Gamble, Bain & Co. and Walt Disney Co., in addition to FTD.

• Her message to Wednesday's audience will, not surprisingly, focus on the heavy use of the eBay auction site by women and women-owned businesses.

• "What eBay offers women," Whitman said, "is the opportunity to decide what kind of time they want to put in, what kind of products they want to sell, and it allows them to customize their work around whatever else they have going on in their lives.

• "Another thing that's interesting about eBay is that it's a completely level playing field because you are totally measured by the quality of your product and the feedback other people leave for you."

• "People were florists because they loved flowers, because they loved the product, and they didn't want to work at IBM. They wanted to be their own boss. That's a lot of what I see at eBay as well," Whitman said.

So Whitman totally supports women breaking free and doing their own thing!

To read the entire article, visit: eBay Chief Says Women Have Opportunities ...

When you are sourced 'OUT,' entrepreneurship becomes 'IN'

In Fast Company

• ... And so the next week, Bronstein walked into a room to find her old coworkers on one side and the new group from India on the other. "It was like a sock hop where everyone's lined up against the wall blinking at each other," she says. "People were trying not to cry." In an attempt to lighten the mood, her boss said she would like to introduce the old staff to the new staff, while the VP of engineering chimed in with familiar words. "We're depending on you to help this company succeed," he said. Bronstein spent the next four weeks training her two replacements who then went back to India - -two people whose lives were suddenly bettered in exchange for one whose life had taken an unexpected turn for the worse.

HERE'S HOW BRONSTEIN KEEPS AFLOAT:

• Since leaving WatchMark (now called WatchMark-Comnitel), Bronstein, who made $76,500 plus bonus, has been out of work, making ends meet with unemployment and by cashing out her 401(k). With both of those gone, she's turned to selling her collection of antique women's compacts on eBay. "It's the difference between hopeful and hopeless," she says. "If you're just laid off, you can tell yourself that the economy swings back and forth, but if it's outsourced offshore, it ain't coming back. It still exists, but it just exists in another place. The IT industry in the United States has gone from being a very high-level, well-paying industry to being very low-paying sweatshop labor, and that's an inexorable trend."

• Bronstein's story is increasingly common in a global economy where labor is crossing borders almost as freely as capital. Starting decades ago with low-skilled manufacturing jobs in basic industries, followed by textiles, cars, semiconductors, and now, services, the nimbleness of the world's economy has allowed us to reduce costs by moving production to wherever it's least expensive. The benefits to our economy -- in increased productivity, lower prices, and greater demand for American products -- are touted by corporate America as the only way to remain competitive. "This is the next iteration of the global economy," says Atul Vashistha, CEO of neoIT, an offshore advisory firm. "The story is what would happen to these companies if they did not go offshore."

To read this fascinating article, visit: Into Thin Air

Alaskan Women At Work

In Daily New-Miner (Fairbanks, AK)

Alison McDaniel is one of thousands of female entrepreneurs in Alaska, contributing more than a billion dollars in revenue to the state's economy each year, according to Sam Dickey of the Small Business Administration's Alaska office. Her story, along with Vikki Solberg's and Leeann Thomas's, is just like all the rest on why she decided to start her business and what led to her success:

• McDaniel attributes her success to determination and knowledge. She also thinks that as a woman she takes into consideration things that most men don't, like the importance of shrink wrapping a cream-colored couch (she runs a relocation company) to assure that it won't be discolored during the move.

• Personal freedom is one of the primary motivations for becoming a business owner. It is the freedom to make decisions. "I found being the ultimate decision-maker inspiring," said Leeann Thomas, owner of the Triangle Club. "I would encourage any female to give it a try."

For the complete article, visit: Women at work

Women's Business Development Center, Chicago Annual Conference September 8-9 at Navy Pier

In the Chicago Sun-Times

I hope to see all of you corporate escape artists turned entrepreneurs over at the Women's Business Development Center Annual Conference September 8-9 at Navy Pier. I plan to stop in sometime between 10:00-1:30 p.m. today, September 8th. Look for me at the Women Presidents' Organization (WPO) booth for that is where I will be hanging my hat. I serve as WPO's Chicago chapter facilitator (two chapters ... one downtown and one in Schaumburg). See you there!

Here's more info on the conference:
Conference in Chicago Targets Veteran Female Business Owners

All the best,
Laurel

Corporate Comforts

In Entrepreneur

This article is actually about three years old but I stumbled upon it while conducting a search on another project. It is right in line with the mission of this blogger. See what you think but I will give you three significant short paragraphs from the piece:

• She notes that women entrepreneurs tend to be so focused on building their businesses, they often wear blinders. "Corporate women need to see a variety of things to manage the process," says Semidei-Otero. "Because they must interact with other divisions, they must negotiate and present information to different people at different times."

• And the relationships are mutually beneficial. Women business owners help imbue their corporate counterparts with the ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT increasingly needed to succeed in corporate life, says Carol Nichols, JPMorgan Chase senior vice president and Texas statewide manager of commercial business banking. "I think women entrepreneurs are real leaders in terms of having new and different ways to do business and be successful," says Nichols.

• The connection between women entrepreneurs and those in corporate America can be powerful. It's in the best interest of both groups to ensure the other is strong, vibrant and fully realizes its potential.

Yeah!

To read the full article, visit:
What Can Women In Corporate America Offer Women Entrepreneurs?

ChangeThis.com Manifesto // Please vote, thanks!

I need your vote and it's only two mouse clicks away.

Read this and vote "YES" -- thanks!
ChangeThis :: Global Guru. Shaking Things Up. Making Things Happen. Vote on Laurel's Proposal

Frustration In Corporate World Compels Women to Launch New Businesses

In Advancing Women

Want to know the reason behind this massive exodus?

• The primary reason that women are launching new businesses is that they are inspired by an entrepreneurial idea; the next most frequently stated reason is frustration with their previous work environments, according to a study released by three prominent women's business organizations -- Catalyst, the National Foundation for Women Business Owners (NFWBO), and The Committee of 200.

To read the entire article, visit:
Entrepreneurial Ideas Motivate Women to Start Businesses

Why Women Are Leaving Corporate America in Droves

In WomenOf.com

Here's what author and president of Big Fish Marketing, Inc. Robin Fisher Roffer has to say:

• There’s a brain drain going on in corporate America. Women are leaving their jobs and going home to start their own businesses -- consulting practices and cottage industries -- so they can better balance career and family.

• Life trumps the job description. And women are choosing life.

• Corporate America needs to wake-up to the fact that it should be looking inside its female workforce, not at their job descriptions to figure out how to make allowances for a life that goes way beyond 9-5.
 
• I’m talking about finding ways to let your female workers live outside the box.

• Thanks to a worker’s market, the National Quit Rate is now at 14.7%, the highest in almost ten years.

• Validating your female employees by helping them to develop their own personal brand strategy is one way to ensure staying power.

• Being pigeonholed is just about the worst state of affairs, and that’s what happens when you shove people into a box that’s pre-fab and pre-determined.

• Am I talking about a revolution? In a way, yes. Because I’m asking employers to suggest that there is more behind "here’s your job -- like it or leave it." It simply costs too much money to continue to lose valuable women only to replace them with others who will ultimately leave.

To read the entire article, visit: Why Women Are Leaving Corporate America in Droves

The Opt-Out Revolution

In The New York Times (October)

Laurel here ... I never read the NYT article, I only found the following letter, from Ms. Shepard, in response to it:

I had a strong reaction to the October 26th New York Times Magazine cover article by Lisa Belkin entitled, “The Opt-Out Revolution”. Perhaps it was the cover photo of a woman and a baby sitting beneath a ladder (metaphor for the corporate ladder no doubt) and the caption which referred to women abandoning the climb and heading home. Those images and the captions gave an impression women were leaving corporate America in droves, although the article itself indicated otherwise. The gist of the article is that there is a growing number of highly educated, professional women who are “opting out” and leaving ambitious career paths in favor of hearth and home. The author argues that while the absence of women in positions of power was once chiefly a result of sexism, the fact that the number of women in significant corporate roles has not increased is now a deliberate choice. Having said that, the author also acknowledges that there are “ambitious, achieving women out there who are the emotional and professional equals of any man and that there are also women who stayed the course and climbed the work ladder and were thwarted by lingering double standards and chauvinism.” After reading this article, I feel a need to set the record straight.

First, while it may be true that biology and sociology dictate a choice for women in “opting out”, it should be noted that research studies indicate that the vast majority of women opt for other opportunities within the workforce. Recent studies by The Leader’s Edge show that while corporate America may make women feel marginalized or unwelcome in the corporate culture, 90% of those we surveyed left for other opportunities. The executive women surveyed stated they felt excluded from the “information loop”, had difficulty getting their voices and strategies heard and did not receive feedback on their work and careers. Additionally, thirty one percent of the women surveyed expressed a need for a more balanced life with flexible working hours. These women were frustrated with their situations, but, instead of heading home, chose to go to other companies or START THEIR OWN BUSINESSES. Two thirds of the women are in their 40’s and 50’s, married with children, with one third making over $250,000 a year. The majority of these women reported that their new situation was a definite improvement both in terms of corporate culture and family/life balance.

Second, women constitute over half the management positions in corporate America and are poised for growth and advancement. The fact that they are not being promoted into the executive ranks, or staying there as the numbers confirm, is the real issue. It is my hope that as corporate cultures evolve, they will build in systems to retain their talented employees—both men and women—by providing more options and greater flexibility. It is clearly in corporate America’s best interest to retain and develop women. The cost of replacing an executive is generally calculated at one and one half times current salary, which includes recruitment costs, replacement salary and possible severance and litigation costs. This does not include the soft costs such as loss of knowledge, client relationships and morale to the company once a woman leaves. Additionally, women make over 80% of the buying decisions in the $3 trillion consumer product market. The optimal business marketing decision is to have women actively involved in creating and implementing strategies, products and services that appeal to the woman’s market. The Leader’s Edge is currently analyzing a study we conducted of Fortune 1000 companies and the methods or “best practices” they are currently employing in relation to their female employees. That study should be completed shortly [Laurel here ... I am going to check status], and we will have the results for you then.

Finally, in terms of the New York Times article, I hope that people actually took the time to read it completely. The photos and captions alone could be misleading and to assume a trend based on those partial elements would be unfortunate and, I believe, not in keeping with reality or the author’s intent.

A Personal Letter from Molly D. Shepard, Founder and CEO of The Leader's Edge

"I was a suit -- nails and all -- I was totally corporate. Now I walk around in slippers ... it's fun!"

In the HeraldNet.

GRANITE FALLS -- While Vicki Urbanick was looking through a mail-order catalog at animal-shaped craft items, inspiration struck ... under her cocktail. She thought someone could make some money by placing these bear and wolf designs she saw in the magazine on wooden coasters. Urbanick had received some blank wood coasters from a friend made from thin, round slices of wood.

Then a few months later, Urbanick was laid off from her job as a marketing manager from ATL Ultrasound in Bothell when it became Phillips Medical Systems. "The evening I was told I was being laid off, I just said, 'Go for it,'" she said. "Why not ... I had enough money."

Four other key points mentioned:

• She is one of many women successfully launching their own business in the last 15 years. Privately owned businesses started by women have doubled since 1987, according to the Center for Women's Business Research in Washington, D.C.

• Sharon Hadary, the center's executive director, said about 38 percent of women-owned home businesses sold nondurable manufactured goods, such as Urbanick's items.

• "I think the perception is that (women-owned home businesses) are the little woman making dolls out of socks and selling them at the county fair, but I think you're going to find they are substantial businesses," Hadary said.

• Women have also been more aggressive than men when grabbing onto business opportunities through the Internet, Hadary said.

To read the full inspiring story, visit: Against The Grain

Yeah! -- National Association for the Self-Employed Gets It! Women now have their own site.

In National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE) -- press release.

The new site is part of the NASE Women Entrepreneurship Initiative, which began over two years ago as a proactive response to the growing trend of women-owned businesses. The initiative also includes sponsoring women-business conferences and trade shows across the country, soliciting feedback from female NASE members on benefits and programs, and offering benefits that appeal more to this group. Women.NASE.org targets the needs of this ambitious group of women, with unique features geared toward the female business owner.

Here's what the President of NASE said:

• “Like many business owners, women entrepreneurs are seeking the support and networking opportunities afforded by joining professional and benefits associations,” said NASE President Robert Hughes. “While the NASE welcomes all micro-business owners to join the association, this Web site shows our existing and potential female members that the NASE takes their concerns and the needs of their businesses seriously. [Laurel here ... read this again ladies: "Takes their concerns and the needs of their businesses seriously."]

To read the press release announcing NASE's women's initiative, visit: National Association for the Self-Employed Launches Women's Site

Or, go direct to the site, visit: National Association for the Self-Employed: For Women Only Section

Women Are Tired of Taking the Back Seat to Their Biker Boyfriends and Husbands!

In Chicago Tribune and Journal Sentinel.

[Laurel here ... I'm lovin it!] A couple of snapshots from article but the bottom line is that Harley gets it:

• Female riders represent the fastest-growing segment of the motorcycle industry. Harley is nurturing a women's biker culture that can co-exist with the traditional bad-boy image.

• Only about 10% of Harley-Davidson motorcycle owners are women, yet that's up from 2% in the 1980s. Women riders represent a vast, untapped market for Harley-Davidson and other motorcycle manufacturers, but the companies have to get into the minds of women like Gigi Foster before they can reach into their wallets.

• Many women are tired of taking the back seat to their biker boyfriends and husbands, says Foster, president of Sirens Motorcycle Club for women in New York.

• "I know of one woman who got her own bike because she was tired of riding behind her son," Foster says. "And there are women I know who could ride the pants off many men, and they are grandmothers."

• "Most of the people I see on motorcycles are big, burly men that have a definite 'grrr' look about them. I am a twenty-something female who works in downtown Chicago and likes to eat Sushi ... definitely no 'grrr' factor in this gal.' "

• Many women riders find it empowering to suit up in biker leathers, which are practical riding clothing as well as a fashion statement.

• "It's like an alter ego on weekends when you become the 'wild one,' " Foster says. "You are an accountant five days a week, and then Friday night, you pull on your leather jacket and away you go with people who are just like you."

• Women are moving up fast at Harley, where they represent about 24% of the work force. Also, 20% of the company's vice presidents and 29% of its corporate officers are women. Among the Fortune 500, women average 15.7% of corporate officers, according to Catalyst, a New York-based organization devoted to the advancement of women in business.

• Numbers like that (above) earned Harley-Davidson an award this year from Catalyst, making the manufacturer one of three companies to be recognized for their success in advancing women. "And one thing fairly unique at Harley-Davidson is there are women in senior management roles who started out in non-management positions," says Paula Gerkovich, a senior director with Catalyst.

• "In order to create products for a diverse audience, Harley-Davidson found that it must access diverse groups of thinkers -- including women, people of color, riders and non-riders," Catalyst wrote.

• "Now women are a natural part of the order of things here," says Lawler, Harley's vice president of communications. "Change started in about the 1980s when management realized it needed everyone to put their best ideas forward to help save the company."

• [Relative to women and Harleys ...] "They want to ride the real, authentic thing. That's what the rush is all about."

To read the entire article, visit:
Harley Adds Women To Its Rolls of Buyers, Managers