Mini Cooper With Female Bunny Ears!

©2013 Laurel Delaney.  All rights reserved.  "Mini Cooper Bunny!"

The Peninsula Chicago goes all out on Easter this year.  What I love is the pink.  Have a Happy Easter!

Photo courtesy:  ©2013 Laurel Delaney.  All rights reserved.  "The Female Mini Cooper Bunny"

Oh Quit Your Day Job and Get Going!

Yes, it is a big risk to quit your day job and launch a business.  But, on the other hand, you could spend the rest of your life working in corporate America and forever thinking about starting a business yet never do it.

On your death bed do you want to mumble, "I hated my job in Corporate America and wish I would have quit in my twenties to start a business."

Or, would you rather say, "I lived a life that was meant for me and yes, - starting a business was a big risk in my twenties but it made me who I am today:  happy, creative, content, fulfilled and so satisfied that I risked it all to make something great happen!"

Read:  Can You Afford to Quit Your Day Job?

You tell me:  Can you afford not to quit your day job to become your creative best self in life?

Photo courtesy:  05.com

All Entrepreneurs Are Irish On St. Patty's Day!

©Laurel Delaney 2013.  All rights reserved.  "Irish Hats"

When you have a fighting spirit, as all entrepreneurs do, there is a bit of Irish in you!  Happy St. Patty's Day!  My favorite day of the year.  Enjoy!

Photo courtesy:  ©Laurel Delaney 2013.  "Irish Hats"

Are You A Female Entrepreneur With Style?

Stephanie Burns along with her business partner Jody Coughlin run Chic CEO, a free web resource for female entrepreneurs that provides all of the fundamental information women need to start a business, from how to write a business plan to how to invent a new product.

Finances, funding, and marketing -- Chic CEO has got it covered. Together with her business partner Jody Coughlin, Stephanie has created a platform for women to find the answers to help them make their dream a reality.

Chic CEO Walks Women Through the Practical Steps of Starting a Business

Visit:  Chic CEO (as illustrated)

Be Obsessed With Metrics and Data

As you grow your business, being obsessed with metrics and data can be a good thing.  Take Marissa Mayer, for example, CEO of Yahoo:

After spending months frustrated at how empty Yahoo parking lots were, Mayer consulted Yahoo's VPN (Virtual Private Network where workers can use it to securely log into Yahoo's network and do work) logs to see if remote employees were checking in enough. Mayer discovered they were not — and her decision was made. 

When is the last time you checked your VPN logs or parking lots?  Could your workers be slacking off?

Read:  How Marissa Mayer Figured Out Work-At-Home Yahoos Were Slacking Off

Illustration credit:  Marissa Mayer's Twitter page

Expect To Succeed and You Will

Rachel Leavy, 24 years old, didn't expect to start a business nor did she expect to do well running it but she has.

She teaches obedience classes at night and holds doggy daycamp three days a week.  The idea sparked to start Miss Rachel's School For Dogs when her dog Dixie was hit by a car.

Find her on Twitter and visit her site.  You never know when your next big idea will strike.  Be open to it.

Illustration credit:  Miss Rachel's School for Dogs

Women Entrepreneurs: Bring On the Optimism in 2013!

A recent national survey of women business owners conducted by Web.com Group, Inc. and the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) found a strong sense of economic optimism, including a prediction by 85 percent of women business owners that more women will become entrepreneurs in 2013 than in past years.

How is that so?  Find out here.

Get Comfortable With "The Ask"

  

The Ask!

When you're ready to seek funding for your business, get comfortable with "the ask."  You've got to be bold enough to put your business out there in the market, strut your stuff (capabilities) and "ask" for what you want.  But that's not what this article is about.

The article below is about why crowdfunding is a game-changer for women entrepreneurs. 

Women-owned firms start and grow businesses with substantially less outside financing, according to a Department of Commerce survey of women-owned companies across the U.S. That helps to explain why the average women-owned business has 25% lower revenue than the typical male-owned firm in the same industry.

Read the entire article here.

Many of you have asked me via email for donations on your projects over at Indiegogo and Kickstarter.  What's your experience been like on the funding front -- good, bad or indifferent?  Have you heard of the new kid on the block (not necessarily a crowdfunding site) called Fundwell?

Sometimes Life Is Full of Surprises

Alecia McClung, CEO, ARO

Chicago CEO Alecia McClung (pictured) has gone from serious health issues to successful woman business owner.  She runs Administrative Resource Options (ARO), a one-stop shop for outsourcing office management and services.

As Alecia says, "Sometimes life is full of surprises."  

Womenetics: When and why did you start your business? How did you recognize that there was an opportunity to outsource your services to companies in the Chicago area?

Alecia McClung: We primarily started outsourcing in mailroom and print centers. I started the infrastructure in 1990, about 22 years ago. We started out in the legal market and expanded into hospitals, schools, manufacturing, and now we’re pretty much in every market. 

Read Alecia's inspiring story and interview here.

Photo courtesy:  ARO

Women Business Owners Fight for Government Contracts

With federal spending cuts, women entrepreneurs are feeling the pinch.  U.S. government contracts to women- owned small businesses dropped for the second consecutive year, declining at a faster rate than awards to their male counterparts.

The women’s contracts slid 5.5 percent to about $16.4 billion in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 from $17.3 billion in fiscal 2011, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Awards to small firms owned by men fell 4.1 percent to $80.9 billion.  

What's causing the decline?

The gender gap may reflect stiffer competition over a shrinking pool of contract revenue as well as the bureaucratic burdens associated with a new effort to reserve awards for women-owned firms, according to former procurement officials and small business advocates. 

Read the entire article here.

Are you experiencing this challenge?  If so, we welcome hearing from you.

Illustration credit:  BloombergBusinessweek

Have a Heart for What You Do

Brenda Frazier, owner of Brenda Kay Frazier's Beauty Shop

Success comes in a variety of ways but no matter what, it always requires having a heart for what you do.  See how women business owners use their brainpower, instincts and their heart to do what they love doing here.

Illustration credit:  The Express

Managing Talent: The Dandelion Metaphor

Listen carefully to this insightful video.  I love "The Dandelion Metaphor" as it relates to finding obscure spaces in your business where people can grow.

Stake Out Your Place On the Road to Success

With the beginning of a new year, it's really time to stake out your place on the road to success.  It's in line with what we wrote about here with unleashing your yellow tree in 2013.

Deborah Sweeney (pictured), contributor to Forbes, provides her tips to ensure every day of 2013 is a great one for you and your business.

Read:  How Female Entrepreneurs Can Stand Out in 2013 - Forbes

Visit Deborah's company:  MyCorporation

Photo courtesy:  MyCorporation

Unleash Your Yellow Tree in 2013

©Laurel Delaney 2013, "Yellow Tree"

You've heard of Blue Ocean Strategy (go where profits and growth are - not where competition is) and the Black Swan concept (an event deemed improbable yet causes massive consequences).   But have you heard about the Yellow Tree?  Unleash your Yellow Tree (ability to stand out in the crowd) in 2013. 

Happy New Year!

Photo courtesy:  ©Laurel Delaney 2013, "Yellow Tree"

Wishing You Peace and Joy This Holiday Season

©Laurel Delaney 2012, "The Driehaus Museum, Chicago"

Photo courtesy:  ©Laurel Delaney 2012, "The Driehaus Museum, Chicago."

Women Entrepreneurs Are Alive, Well and Thriving

Over at Small Business Trends, Sramana Mitra (pictured) provides three examples of interesting women entrepreneurs operating in diverse industries -- from educational technology to online music.

As she points out:

These entrepreneurs prove the adage that a good idea coupled with persistence and focus on quality pays off in the end.

Gender is irrelevant.

 Read:  Women Entrepreneurs:  Alive and Well, Thank You Very Much!

Learn more about Sramana here.

When You Leap to Entrepreneurship, Here's Your Safety Net

When you start a business, it's a leap of faith.  You have no idea whether you will make a success out of your idea or not.  But you can minimize risks by talking with others, getting appropriate help and making strong connections.

It's also a good idea before you let go to get some skills, and practice -- with a safety net. That's the idea that spurred Joanne Wilson and me three years ago to start the ITP Women Entrepreneurs Festival. We wanted to celebrate the women who were flying through the air (generally not with the greatest of ease) and to inspire other women and give them the skills and safety net to make the leap themselves. We designed this gathering to be different from other conferences targeting women. We wanted it to be a place of conversation, where participants and speakers had conversations and developed relationships. We saw the conversations between the most skilled, the most daring and the women on the verge as the strongest fiber with which to build a safety net.

 Read the entire article here where the author likens entrepreneurship to a trapeze artist (that's the "letting go" part).

Women Entrepreneurs Can Be Shockingly Fast!

Photo courtesy:  Current Motor

Did you know?

•  Dell has many investment arms including Dell Ventures and the Dell Innovators Credit Fund.  They also have Women Powering Business and DWEN.

One business owner, Lauren Flanagan of Current Motor, came in through the DWEN network and is now on Dell's Entrepreneur in Residence Advisory Board. Further, she received $250,000 in technology for her business through the Dell Innovator’s Credit Fund, allowing her to get her scooters (as shown) to market six months faster.

Quote from Ingrid, The Rider on a Current Motor scooter:

Defying her own low expectations, she found our Super Scooter to be "shockingly fast, to be honest."  The ride comfortable, handling responsive, and overall decidedly NOT boring. Her suggestion:  "You HAVE to try it!"

Rumor has it that women entrepreneurs, provided they ride a Super Scooter, can be shockingly fast!

Back to Dell, are you up on all the resources they have to offer to help grow your business?  Visit to the links referenced above.

Related article:  Dell's Women's Entrepreneur Network Heads to Turkey?

Small Business Saturday

Today is Small Business Saturday.  Are you out and about supporting fellow business owners in your local community by purchasing their products or services?  I hope so!

Go here to learn more.  And tomorrow, expand accordingly:  ShopPlanet (Global Small Business Sunday)!

I wonder if those boots (as shown) are available in my -- or your -- neighborhood!

Illustration credit:  American Express homepage

Business Reboot

Steve Case, the chairman and CEO of Revolution and cofounder of AOL explains below why small, high-growth companies are the secret to economic vitality and job creation and how large companies could benefit from them.

He also dispels four myths about small businesses.  Here's the first one:

Myth #1. All small businesses want to grow.

Not all owners of small businesses want them to grow; many “mom and pop” enterprises are happy to stay small. It is really a subset of young businesses—those less than five years old—that do want to grow and that create the majority of jobs: 40 million over the last 25 years. This represents 20 percent of total gross job creation and total net new job creation in the United States over this time period.

Read:  Restarting the U.S. small-business growth engine