To Grow, Find Good Mentors

Three out of 10 small businesses are owned by women nationally.  About two percent of them have broken the $1 million mark in revenues.  Why is it so hard to break into the million-dollar plus revenue range?  Many think it is because women lack good outside advisors.

But the people problems run far deeper than not having outside experts. About six in 10 of the [Kaufman Foundation] survey respondents said they lacked a strong support structure within their businesses.

Learn more:  Female business owners say they need mentors, marketing help

Note:  A good peer-to-peer advisory group is the Women Presidents' Organization.  (Disclosure:  I manage the Chicago market for WPO.)

Never Be Afraid to Start Your Own Business

Artist Sylvia Sinel (pictured) said her craft is experiencing a revival.  Sinel moved from Sweden three years ago and said she "found her medium" in New Zealand.  In it, she wasn't afraid to start her own business.  After joining the Waikato Society of Potters, she started with ceramics.

Read more to learn what happened next:  From working with money to working with clay

Take It Global Gals!

If you are in or around Chicago on Friday, October 21st, join us for the world's best little Global Small Business Forum held at 70 West Madison Street from 7:30 a.m. -- 4:30 p.m.  My company, Global TradeSource, Ltd. (GSBB Media, LLC) is hosting it.  You'll hear from entrepreneurs and business owners -- men and women alike -- talking about how they expanded their businesses internationally.

Our sponsors this year are:  CEI, MB Financial, TradeUp and Nixon Peabody.  Without them, this program would not be possible.

To learn more and to register, visit:  http://www.global smallbusinessforum.com.  There's a fee involved but the good news is that you receive breakfast, lunch, all program content, and a copy of my latest Exporting book endorsed by Good to Great and Beyond Entrepreneurship best-selling author Jim Collins.  Students get a substantial discount.  Oh, and we are also auctioning off two really neat prizes:  an iPad mini and a Mio global health watch!  Eli's Cheesecake will be serving up something sweet and memorable for each attendee.

I hope to see you there! 

Illustration credit:  @2016 GSBB Media LLC, 2nd Annual Global Small Business Forum 2016.  All rights reserved. 

Women-Owned Businesses Are Growing Across the Nation

Dun & Bradstreet and Pepperdine University have released new data showing how women-owned small businesses stack up against the national average for accessing capital.

The index shows that women-owned businesses are feeling more optimistic for growth compared to other businesses, however they are feeling more restricted when it comes to accessing capital.  Other key facts include:

• 69% of women-owned businesses are planning to hire in the next six months (compared to 61% national average)
• 67% of women-owned businesses are in need of financing due to planned growth (compared to 59% national average)

You can access the full PCA Q3 index report here.

Women-Owned Businesses Will Be the Major Job-Creators in 2018

According to The Guardian Small Business Research Institute, women-owned businesses will create more than half of the new jobs by 2018.  So the question that begs to be asked:  Which U.S. presidential candidate will you vote for to support job-creating entrepreneurs like ourselves?

Read more:  How Will You [Candidates] Support Job-Creating Entrepreneurs?

Screenshot:  A look back on the more cordial days between Trump and Clinton.

Are You Robbing Yourself of Entrepreneurial Success?

I can't say I do any of these.  Do you?

4 Ways Entrepreneurs (Especially Women) Unintentionally Rob Themselves of Success

Regardless, there's a nice ending:

"Listen to yourself. Live your truth. Claim your sense of knowing. It's your company. Have faith in your intuitive sense of what needs your attention, when, and why.  Trust yourself."

Screenshot:  Reina Trust Building (Michelle Reina, PhD, pictured right, and author of the above article). 

Raising an Entrepreneurial Daughter

Is entrepreneurialism a skill that can be developed?  It's certainly a mindset.  Here are four ways you can help your daughters become entrepreneurs, not just in business, but in life.  It starts with setting an example.

4 Ways Parents Can Foster an Entrepreneurial Spirit in Their Daughters

On Financing, Female Entrepreneurs Still Face Challenges

According to Fundera's new study, two things are a fact:

1. Women are approved for small business financing at a lower rate than men.
2. Women entrepreneurs also typically receive smaller loan amounts and worse loan terms than their male peers.

What's the good news?  Not much when it comes to financing for female entrepreneurs.  Consider this as well (as it relates to No. 1):  Women are half as likely as men to be approved for loans from the Small Business Administration. 

Read on.  Female Entrepreneurs Still Face an Uphill Battle with Financing

Over-50 Entrepreneurs Have the Fire in the Gut

Are you an encore entrepreneur -- a man or woman over the age of 50?  Like any business you start, you must write down your goals if you want to achieve them.

If you want to do it and you’re willing to work hard, I’ve seen what success looks like,” she [76-year-old Elinor Arendt] said, giving an example of her willingness to work hard. Arendt said she has been lifting weights three times a day since January 1990.

For inspiration, read more:  Looking for an encore:  Over-50 entrepreneurs are focus of start-up effort

What Leads to Success in Starting a Business?

Is the following what you are thinking?  When I started my business, it's what I thought.

Many people start a business thinking they will start making money immediately they open their doors - only to find that making money in a business is much more difficult than they thought.

Below, women entrepreneurs share basic steps that led to success in their businesses.

How successful women grow their businesses 

Entrepreneurship Can Be a Lonely Endeavor

Entrepreneurship can be a grueling and solitary journey.  Ask some of the women who attended a recent conference hosted by Amazon in Seattle, Washington.

For the attendees who came from 43 U.S. states, the U.K., Canada and Australia, it was a rare close encounter with the company that enables their entrepreneurial ambitions but is also the hard-to-read arbiter of a ruthlessly competitive platform.

Amazon wants to personally connect with its merchants, particularly due to the Marketplace becoming one of the main pillars of Amazon's fast growth.

Read more:  Women entrepreneurs find Amazon marketplace profitable, sometimes perplexing

Screenshot courtesy:  The Seattle Times

Top 5 Cities That Cultivate Women Entrepreneurs

The top five cities considered the best to be a female entrepreneur:

1. New York
2. San Francisco Bay area
3. London
4. Stockholm
5. Singapore.

To make it to the top of the list, five important categories of city characteristics were identified:

1. Capital
2. Technology
3. Talent
4. Culture
5. Markets

New York is doing something about it.

The [New York] city is encouraging women like Rita [a retired school teacher from India] to understand they are not in this alone, that there is assistance and encouragement as they move into a new business enterprise and for many, a new role in life.

Read more:  New York Program Cultivates Women Entrepreneurs

Women Entrepreneurs Get a Confidence Boost

Is the glass half full for women entrepreneurs when it comes to growing our businesses?  We certainly hope so.  Yet, for our male counterparts, they share a glass half empty outlook.  At least that is according to the inaugural Bank of America Women Business Owner Spotlight.  Take a look:

Based on a national survey of 1,000 small business owners, BofA (BAC) found that 54% of women small business owners expect their revenue to increase over the next year, compared to 48% of men. And of those surveyed, 60% of women expect to grow their business over the next five years vs. 52% of men. 

Read more:  Female Entrepreneurs Getting a Confidence Boost in 2016

How to Get Finance Ready

Women are also nearly twice as likely as men to rely on family members to fund their new businesses, and young men age 18 to 24 are about twice as likely to start a business as young women of that age.  What factors are at play here?  Women business owners:

• Are more efficient with their money when it comes to launching a new company
• Have less access to capital
• Are wary about the financing process

True or not true?  Regardless, find out what actions you can take to get your business finance ready. 

Read more:  Women vs. Men With Startup Funds, the Gig Economy's Impact, and More

Entrepreneur Ivanka Trump

Ivanka Trump owns her own company.  More importantly, she wore a dress from her own label to introduce her father at the Republican National Convention 7/21/16.  According to the New York Post:

...the 34-year-old mother [Ivanka Trump] of three is putting out the message that she’s an up-by-her-bootstraps, entrepreneurial kind of gal, too.

©2016 Laurel J. Delaney.

Now, the big question becomes:  Where does she make these dresses?  I have a feeling they might not be made in the USA, which leads me to ... her father better take a more favorable position on international trade (TPP, NAFTA, etc.).

Read more:  Ivanka Trump wears her own label's $158 dress to introduce her Dad

It's Still a Man's World in the Aftermarket Automotive Industry

Come on ... research shows that more diverse companies are more profitable.  So what gives when it comes to the old boy's network in the aftermarket automotive industry?

Women business owners have experienced this:

Several female auto business owners said it was commonly assumed they knew nothing about the industry, with customers and distributors asking to speak to men.

They go on to say:

“It is unfortunate to say, but in the field, women are not viewed as competent by their male counterparts . . . the biggest problem is not being seen as having equal intelligence with regards to the trade,” one women told Hachem [St. Clair College researcher Nour Hachem] in a focus group.

Hachem conducted a study for Automotive Industries Association Canada, which entailed surveying owners, employees and hosting seven focus groups for women in the industry across the nation.  The net result is:

Women working in the aftermarket automotive industries say it’s still a man’s world.

Hopefully these issues don't apply to Mary Barra, CEO of GM.

Read more:  Automotive industries still filled with barriers for women.

Are You a Chicago Woman?

Chicago Woman is a magazine and media brand that speaks directly to professional women who live, work and play in Chicago. They tell the stories that empower women, while inspiring them to live their best lives, at the office and at home. Chicago Woman was created to serve as a platform for the women who are the movers, shakers and makers in the beautiful city of Chicago (my hometown I  might add :-)!

Whether you live in Chattanooga or Chicago, you'll find many of the articles featured at Chicago Woman Magazine inspiring and informative.  Here's an example.

Learn more:  Chicago Woman Magazine

Best Beach Reads to Build Your Business

I am not a big beach reader but I love to squirrel away in my home and knock down a business book or two each week.  Everyone has to find their special place to recharge.  Inc. Magazine has put together a wonderful list of great reads for the summer.  One I'm sure to buy is Adam Grant's "Originals."  It looks fabulous.

Read:  Top 23 Business Books You Should Read This Summer

P.S.  I also just finished updating my best-selling Exporting book and the 2nd edition will be ready in early fall.  Watch for more on that coming soon!  Have a great 4th of July holiday weekend!  Oh, one more thing ...

P.P.S.  Escape From Corporate America is 12 years old on July 7th.  We launched EFCA on July 7, 2004. Yay to you for your interest and yay to us for keeping on, keeping on.  To the future!  And thank you for your readership.

Fake It Till You Make It

It's hard to believe that women the world over running successful businesses still struggle to be taken seriously.  One woman business owner who runs Australian-based Cupcake Central says "To a certain extent, I had to fake it till I make it."  She goes on to say, "You have to sell the dream."

Whether you fake it till you make it or have a hard time being taken seriously, never give up.

Learn more great inspiring tips from women business owners: The truth about discrimination facing female entrepreneurs

Screenshot courtesy: Cupcake Central

Leading Reasons Why Men and Women Go Bankrupt

What a sensitive topic.  Who likes to talk about insolvency whether personal or professional?  Best to sweep it under a carpet and move on.  Not so fast.  Men’s and women’s distinctively different roles in the economy reveals pronounced differences in the factors that cause them to go into bankruptcy.

The leading reasons for men to go bankrupt are job loss and business failure, while the most common causes for women are the breakdown of a relationship, living beyond their means and the loss of a partner’s income, according to a study by R3, a professional association for insolvency practitioners.

Read more:  Men and women go bankrupt for different reasons | FT.com