Dodging Our Global Economic Crisis

Rarely do I weigh in with my own two cents on what's happening in our global economy let alone provide ways in which to deal with it as a woman business owner. But there's always an exception to the rule and I thought you might like the article, 16 Ways To Dodge An Economic Crisis, I wrote for OPEN Forum by American Express.

Check it out and let me know if any of the ways I reference apply to you and your business. And definitely share with us any NEW ways in which to dodge our current global economic crisis.

Women Bloggers of Influence 2009

We are honored to be featured on All Diva Media's 20 Women Bloggers to Watch in 2009. Our thanks to DJ Nelson who's the force behind All Diva Media.

Women Clean Up Male Mess

Judith Dobrzynski, who I am a big fan of, writes a clever piece, "Maybe the Meltdown's a Guy Thing," for The New York Times which was published November 15th. Catch it here. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Women Who Did Not Escape Corporate America

Women who did not escape corporate America and seem to be doing just fine. Catch all the exceptions to the rule here.

And a quick fact noted in the article:

According to a survey by Catalyst, a New York research group, women hold 15.4% of Fortune 500 corporate-officer jobs -- positions of vice president or higher that require board approval. That number has inched down from 16.4% in 2005. Women running Fortune 500 companies amount to just 2.4%, the survey showed, and 74 of those companies have no female corporate officers at all.

Pictured: Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook is among the 50.

Are You a Young Woman Social Entrepreneur?

Young Women Social Entrepreneurs (YWSE) is a national organization with chapters in San Francisco, Portland, Los Angeles, and New York City. I hope to help them start a Chicago chapter.

Are you a young social entrepreneur (pictured is YWSE member Julie Kay) or aspire to become one soon? Then explore what YWSE has to offer: Young women social entrepreneurs’ visions and goals are affirmed, supported, promoted, and propelled. In addition, they:

• Bring women to the highest positions of leadership in business, government, and social and environmental work.

• Promote young women social entrepreneurs by providing training and development, access to resources, networking opportunities, and general support for their members.

Women Are Role Models For All Entrepreneurs

Women business owners have more support from networking groups and organizations devoted to peer mentoring (e.g., Women Presidents' Organization), and there is improved access to capital for female business owners than in the past. At least we like to think so. More women are increasingly leading companies in a wide range of sectors traditionally dominated by men, such as construction, manufacturing and information technology.

Take a look at what some of these women business owners are achieving in Canada.

And here's the entire W100: Canada's top women entrepreneur list. Very inspiring.

Bottom line: Women are role models for all entrepreneurs.

Economy Center for Small Business

American Express OPEN announced the launch of OPEN Forum’s Economy section, a new platform for small business owners to connect virtually to discuss the current state of the economy and how it affects their businesses. The Economy section is a component of the newly refreshed OPENForum.com, an education and networking resource designed to provide small business owners with practical, actionable information from business experts, celebrity business owners and best-in-class bloggers and news outlets.

The Economy center features blog and news commentary, expert tips and advice for surviving the downturn, personal experiences from business owners across the country, and polls about what the state of the economy means for small businesses.

American Express OPEN sure has it right! Pay a visit when time permits.

Full disclosure: I blog about global small business for the OPEN Forum by American Express. I absolutely love what they are doing and am very proud to be a part of it.

Look Who's Growing the Fastest

The number of minority women-owned businesses grew twice as fast as the number of businesses created by male minority entrepreneurs and non-minority men and women, according to a new study released by the Minority Business Development Agency.

Find out why here. You go girls!

Be Direct

Whether you are based in China, Ireland or the United States, women entrepreneurs need to be direct and upfront about what they want.

This article talks about how to sharpen up your business to survive and thrive during a global economic downturn.

Sisterhood Across the Globe

What do -- the former Colombian presidential candidate and hostage, Ingrid Betancourt; designer Diane von Furstenberg; the sailor Ellen MacArthur; the exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen; the venture capitalist Molly Ashby, the founder of Solera Capital; and the French ministers Fadela Amara, who is in charge of coordinating plans for the racially mixed and poor suburbs, and the foreign trade minister, Anne-Marie Idrac -- all have in common?

Find out here.

Amazing. I have so much respect for women who give other women voices. And I am referring to Aude Zieseniss de Thuin (pictured), founder of the Women's Forum For the Economy and Society.

Women At Their Best

I want to make sure you are all familiar with this fantastic resource. It's called News On Women and published by Alice Krause. She reports on women moving up in the world and is looking for news! Check it out here.

Find her at LinkedIn. Go Alice!

Steady As She Goes

At Chicago-based MAB Advertising, there are some great tips you can apply to running your business during turbulent times. See for yourself here.

Here's a snapshot of two:

If I wasn't already running my own business, today is the day I'd start one. ~ Seth Godin (9/26/08)

In every difficult situation is potential value. Believe this, then begin looking for it. ~ Norman Vincent Peale

Caveat: I know Mary Bahr, President and Creative Director of MAB Advertising through my work with the Women Presidents' Organization.

Boomers Beat the Odds With More Startups

Did you know Americans aged 55-64 start small businesses at a higher rate than any other age group?

Well now there's help: Small Business Administration 50+ Entrepreneur

The Burden of Having It All

The social revolution that liberated women has also presented us with even more demands. Most are still trying to map the line between freedom (escapism) and responsibility.

Read more here at Notre Dame's magazine Summer 2008 Issue with an article authored by Heidi Ardizzone.

And feel free to weigh in with your comments and thoughts.

Non-escapist Ellen

Meet Ellen J. Kullman, the new chief executive and President of Dupont, making her one of the few women to rise to the top of the chemical industry and putting her among the handful of women running the nation's largest companies.

Congratulations Ellen! Ain't no escaping corporate America here. But it's how she likes it and that's what matters.

Glass Ceiling Disintegrates?

Even though this is happening in India, it's pretty similar to the United States. Women at the top are still rare. India should focus more on grooming women to own a business and less on helping them become managers within companies.

Women leaders in India's corporate world, though still small in numbers, see the situation changing for the better as the gender divide narrows and the glass ceiling disintegrates.

"If women want they can reach the top in the corporate ladder. There is nothing like glass ceiling for women in corporate sector. Moreover, with the diminishing of gender divide, women with their ability are best suitable to head corporate businesses," asserts Kalpana Morparia, CEO of JP Morgan India.

"As a woman from the corporate world, I say all the aspiring women leaders and entrepreneurs have the ability to take a risk in their careers and come out of their comfort zones," says Shanti Ekambaram, group head, Wholesale Banking, Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited.

Read the article here.

Underrepresentation of Women Entrepreneurs in the Government Marketplace

Women senators are watching out for us but good along with WIPP President Barbara Kasoff so let's put our hands together and applaud them for their efforts, on behalf of all women entrepreneurs, to get the money we so richly deserve under the SBA's women's procurement program rule.

The letter also says that, despite comprising a third of the nation's small businesses, women entrepreneurs only received 3.4 percent of federal contracting dollars in 2006. It continues by stating Congress established the women's procurement program in 2000 to help address the underrepresentation of women entrepreneurs in the government marketplace. "Now, over seven years later, the SBA produced a fundamentally flawed proposed rule in its insufficient attempt to implement the women's program," says Barbara Kasoff, President, WIPP.

They keep working it and we should too. Don't settle for less -- ever.

Among the women senators who support women-owned businesses, they are:

Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Maria Cantwell (D- Wash.), Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), Susan Collins (R-Maine, Elizabeth Dole (R- N.C.), Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Blanch Lincoln (D- Ark.), Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), Patty Murray (D- Wash.) and Debbie Stabenow (R-Mich.).

To view the full letter, go to (PDF file):

http://landrieu.senate.gov/news/08.09.22_Women_Senators_SBA_Letter.pdf

Like the shirt? Buy it here (we have no affiliation).

Connecting Can Make a Difference

Women entrepreneurs can be overwhelmed with all the social networking sites -- as well as the concept itself. Time and resources are tight but everyone's talking about "Web 2.0." The question you need to ask is: Who do you want to reach? If you find out it's a good fit -- go for it!

Runa Magnúsdóttir is the founder and CEO of Connected-Women.com, a global social search and networking site for professional women used by organizations of women entrepreneurs worldwide.

Take a test drive here.

Corporate Women Make Fairly Big Bucks

Curious as to who are the highest paid women in Corporate America? As an entrepreneur, when it comes to pay, do you think you hold a candle to any of them? There's only one way to find out. Visit here. If you leave men out of the picture, they make fairly big bucks. We'll come back to that in a moment.

To accompany the above referenced report published by ForbesLife, Executive Woman, one of my favorite authors, Judith Dobrzynski, wrote an essay entitled, The Highest-Paid Women In Corporate America. You absolutely don't want to miss it. Here's a clip:

If, as so many men have often said, money is just a way to keep score, the list is yet another indicator that women aren't achieving equality at work. U.S. Department of Labor statistics peg the salary gap between women and men at just over 21 cents on the dollar--but at the top, matters seem to be worse. Yes, at least 100 women pulled down $3 million last year, but the 100 best-paid men in corporate America--all chief executives--each pocketed at least $18 million. You don't need a calculator to figure out that pay divide.

Read the entire piece here.

Note: To my knowledge, Bonnie Raitt (pictured) is not one of the highest paid women in Corporate America but she produced the song, "Let's Give Them Something To Talk About" which is totally in line with Ms. Dobrzynski's fabulous piece.

More to come.

Call to Action to Help Women Business Owners

While the number of women-owned firms grows at a rate almost twice that of all businesses, women entrepreneurs lag behind in capital, contracting awards and their ability to access viable networks. Senator John Kerry, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, addressed these critical concerns at a roundtable on 9/9/08 - 20 years after the passage of the Women's Business Ownership Act.

Read more here.

Interested in learning more about The Center For Women's Business Research -- and donating to this worthwhile cause that supports all of us 10.4 million women entrepreneurs? Go here. Spread the word. Together, we can make a difference.