According to a new survey by PayPal, 55 percent of American women entrepreneurs said they started or want to start their own business to achieve work-life balance.
Do you agree?
I never started my business to have work-life balance. I started it to have control over my destiny and to fully express myself.
Why did you start your business?
Read: Most US Women Entrepreneurs Motivated by Work-Life Balance
Photo Credit: Mike "Dakinewavamon" Kline
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Saturday, October 18, 2014
If I Could Just Think of That One Idea!
Lori Greiner, star of "Shark Tank" and the Queen of QVC, guests on the popular daytime program, "The Queen Latifah Show" to discuss her new bestselling book, "Invent It, Sell It, Bank It" (Random House).
Saturday, October 11, 2014
Message to Satya Nadella: When You Are Clueless About Something, I Suggest You "Shut Up"
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| Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft |
In case you didn't catch it, Nadella advised women against asking for pay bumps. Yes, he expects women in corporate America to be good little girls and to have "faith in the system." If you do those things, "good karma" will be created and everyone will live happily ever after. The end result? Women will not make more money or advance but hey, you and Nadella will get along just fine. You have to be asking yourself ... what is he smoking?
Read: Microsoft's CEO Wasn't the Only Male Exec to Say Something Clueless About Women This Week
Photo Credit: VIDEO The Washington Post
Saturday, October 04, 2014
I Enjoy Being a Girl (Entrepreneur)
Remember the show tune "I Enjoy Being a Girl," from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Flower Drum Song? I am taking it to a new dimension with "I Enjoy Being a Girl Entrepreneur!" Why? Let me count the ways - #1 is I love what I do! - but Carolyn Gregoire sums it up quite nicely with her reasons in The Advantage of Being a Female Entrepreneur.
According to recent data published by the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, entrepreneurs in the U.S., both men and women alike, feel a greater sense of purpose than the average worker, which contributes to greater fulfillment from their work and lives.
Screenshot credit: Flower Drum Song
According to recent data published by the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, entrepreneurs in the U.S., both men and women alike, feel a greater sense of purpose than the average worker, which contributes to greater fulfillment from their work and lives.
Separately, the study found that female entrepreneurs are also more likely to report greater physical well-being than male entrepreneurs and male and female non-entrepreneurial workers, the study found.Read the entire article: The Advantage of Being a Female Entrepreneur
Screenshot credit: Flower Drum Song
Sunday, September 28, 2014
Sometimes Father Knows Best
Karley Skutul has quite a few pets, to the tune of somewhere between 100,000 and 120,000. They are bees. And those are just the bees that live in the two hives behind her Methuen home.
Photo Credit: Vicki's Nature
Skutul, who has been harvesting and selling her own honey with her father's help since the age of 10, tends to two more hives in New Hampshire and an additional two in Maine.Karley's business is Soothing Honey and it has become a huge part of her life.
Photo Credit: Vicki's Nature
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Is Starting a Business a Way Around the Gender Gap?
Who cares about a glass ceiling? This quote says it all:
Read: For some women, starting a business is a way around gender gap
Screenshot courtesy: SmartFem
“Being an entrepreneur doesn’t give me a glass ceiling,” said Lea Haben-Woodford, the publisher and owner of Scottsdale-based SmartFem, an online and mobile magazine for women. She said running her company in Arizona has been great, given the state’s typically warm embrace of small businesses.Find out why women in Arizona are ditching corporate life to avoid gender gaps and starting their own businesses. After all, as one business owner says, "there's more job security in yourself than in turning it over to a company."
Read: For some women, starting a business is a way around gender gap
Screenshot courtesy: SmartFem
Sunday, September 14, 2014
Getting Started in Exporting With Laurel Delaney (Webinar 9/18/14)
Are you looking for new avenues of growth for your business? Then you should consider exporting. Please join me at a webinar I am presenting - Getting Started in Exporting. Are You Ready? - this Thursday, September 18th at 12 p.m. ET/9 a.m. PT (plan on about an hour for the webinar). Here are the six things I will cover:
1. Why this is the best and easiest time ever to export!
2. What you need to do to get your business export ready
3. How to craft a back-of-the napkin export business plan
4. How to create a social media and networking presence
5. How to market your business worldwide
6. How to use e-commerce sites as stepping-stones to export success
To learn more and to register, visit: Export NOW 110: Getting Started in Exporting. Are You Ready? - Women Impacting Public Policy
(http://www.wipp.org/events/event_details.asp?id=454554)
I look forward to connecting with you on Thursday! Please share with anyone you think might benefit from the webinar - thanks!
Photo Credit: Digimist
1. Why this is the best and easiest time ever to export!
2. What you need to do to get your business export ready
3. How to craft a back-of-the napkin export business plan
4. How to create a social media and networking presence
5. How to market your business worldwide
6. How to use e-commerce sites as stepping-stones to export success
To learn more and to register, visit: Export NOW 110: Getting Started in Exporting. Are You Ready? - Women Impacting Public Policy
(http://www.wipp.org/events/event_details.asp?id=454554)
I look forward to connecting with you on Thursday! Please share with anyone you think might benefit from the webinar - thanks!
Photo Credit: Digimist
Sunday, September 07, 2014
And The Winners of the Most Promising Women Entrepreneurs Contest Go To ...
Fortune has selected the 2014 class of Fortune Most Promising Women Entrepreneurs. These are 10 female founders of thriving, innovative, groundbreaking companies with revenue in the $1 million-to-$25 million range.
Find out who made the cut: Fortune Most Promising Entrepreneurs
Here's a peek at one of the winners.
Photo Credit: William Marlow
Find out who made the cut: Fortune Most Promising Entrepreneurs
Here's a peek at one of the winners.
Photo Credit: William Marlow
Sunday, August 31, 2014
Saturday, August 23, 2014
Go After Professional Success
Are you ready to transition from employee to being your own boss?
Photo Credit: monukhan2013
Being your own boss can provide flexibility that women look for to balance home life and work life. You can dig deeper into your passions, and it’s one of the best opportunities for professional success.Read: 7 startup tips for new female entrepreneurs
Photo Credit: monukhan2013
Sunday, August 17, 2014
Business Lessons From Female Entrepreneurs
| ©2014 Laurel J. Delaney. All rights reserved. |
Read: 3 Great Books By and For Female Entrepreneurs
By the way, I've also read Barbara Corcoran's other book (pictured) and it's good too.
Sunday, August 10, 2014
The Happy Factor: The Belief In One's Ability to Succeed
Are women happier than men as entrepreneurs? We know the struggle women experience in corporate America -- that's why we started this blog.
According to Jane Porter for Fast Company, she says:
Related piece that ties in nicely: The Confidence Gap
Photo Credit: Vermin Inc
According to Jane Porter for Fast Company, she says:
A recent study shows there's one career path in which women's perceived happiness is greater than men's: entrepreneurship.Read the article: Why Women Entrepreneurs Are Happier Than Male Entrepreneurs
Related piece that ties in nicely: The Confidence Gap
Photo Credit: Vermin Inc
Sunday, August 03, 2014
There's a Hula Hoop and Now There's Crowdfunding Platform MoolaHoop
MoolaHoop is a crowdfunding platform geared toward helping minority women receive the funding they need to run their business.
Screen shot courtesy of: MoolaHoop
In the past year, MoolaHoop helped raise more than half a million dollars for women.Read some of the success stories: Minority Women Find Advantage with Crowdfunding
Screen shot courtesy of: MoolaHoop
Saturday, July 26, 2014
More On Entrepreneur Barbie (Doll)
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| Creative Entrepreneur Barbie? |
[Gina] Rudan pointed out that Entrepreneur Barbie comes at a time when women -- particularly women of color -- are increasingly starting their own businesses due to barriers in the workplace. She said there’s an estimated 10 million small business owners in the United States who are women and a third of those business owners are Hispanic female business owners.Entrepreneur Barbie: Latina Author, Leadership Coach Gina Rudan Touts Mattel Doll's Latest Profession.
Photo Credit: partymonstrrrr
Sunday, July 20, 2014
Whether Pittsburgh or Shanghai, Women Business Owners Struggle Between Work and Family Life
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| Near Nanjing University (Shanghai) |
Lee Ann Munger, director of [Seton Hill University's] e-Magnify's PowerLink program, said women from both countries struggle with the balance between work and family life as they advance in every field.Read the entire article: Chinese female business owners not so different, Seton Hill group finds
With flexibility, determination and passion, some are inspired to start their own businesses so they can raise a family and advance in their industry, Munger said.
Sunday, July 13, 2014
Leave Confusion, Fear and Mediocrity Behind Once and For All: Become An Entrepreneur
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| Photo courtesy: Maite at MaiteBaron.com (5/14/14) |
Here's what Maite's book claims:
Corporate Escape: The Rise of the New Entrepreneur is designed to help anyone leave the corporate world and embark on building their own business as a ‘New Entrepreneur’, it will benefit anyone in a process of change, by helping them develop the courage needed to leave confusion, fear and mediocrity behind once and for all.I have not read the book yet but wanted to bring it to your attention. Go here to buy the book. And visit Maite's site established in 2012.
All I can say is we were No. 1 at starting with the concept of Escape From Corporate America (2003)! We've created a whole new industry as a result!
Sunday, July 06, 2014
A Shoe Brand Named Miranda
Have you figured out what you are good at or sensed an unmet need? No worries. Neither has multiplatinum country singer Miranda Lambert (pictured) who started a shoe brand named, of all things, Miranda, in tandem with her fifth album, Platinum.
Dixie Shtick - Miranda Lambert creating her own empire
Related article where we talked about her entrepreneurial tendency in 2009, "Being Yourself is Back in Style."
Photo Credit: Creative Nickie
When Lambert was designing the line, her manufacturing partner told her that crystal-bedazzled boots - which are also platinum - might be too intense for the shoppers at DSW, a discount store that carries her collection. So she had a sample pair made in her size and has been wearing them onstage and in photographs for months. "I just decided we'd see what people start responding to," she said.See what else is cooking for Miranda with her personal brand:
Dixie Shtick - Miranda Lambert creating her own empire
Related article where we talked about her entrepreneurial tendency in 2009, "Being Yourself is Back in Style."
Photo Credit: Creative Nickie
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Women Entrepreneurs Face Greater Challenges Than Men
Women are starting businesses at a very fast clip but to reach more than a million dollars in revenue is less than 1/3 the rate of companies led by men.
Photo Credit: ttnk
According to Babson, if women entrepreneurs in the U.S. started with the same funding as their male counterparts, they would add 6 million jobs to the economy within five years.
Those jobs aren’t missing because women are unable to lead. They’re missing because women entrepreneurs face greater challenges than men, and that’s not a whine, it’s a fact.
Read the great article by Geri Stengel and published by Forbes:
Photo Credit: ttnk
Sunday, June 22, 2014
Best Country In the World For Women Entrepreneurs: United States
If you want to prosper running a business, start it in the United States. If you are based here (as I am - Chicago, IL), consider yourself a lucky lady. Other best bets for female entrepreneurship are Australia, Sweden, France and Germany, according to the second annual Gender-GEDI ranking commissioned by Dell.
Learn more: The best countries for women entrepreneurs
Photo Credit: Brian Auer
Learn more: The best countries for women entrepreneurs
Photo Credit: Brian Auer
Saturday, June 14, 2014
A Website for Mom Business Owners
Holly Hurd created VentureMom for the millions of moms who are looking for a venture that gives them fulfillment, provides extra income for their family, and gives them the freedom of working for themselves. Each week Holly highlights a different VentureMom to tell her story. Through these stories, she helps moms look at their lives now, identify what they love to do and shows them how to create an income-producing venture around their passion.
Visit VentureMom.
Screenshot courtesy: VentureMom.com
Visit VentureMom.
Screenshot courtesy: VentureMom.com
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