Take Risks, Empower Entrepreneurs and Work Together

Venezuelan-born Carmen Busquets was a pioneer investor in the fashion tech space, cofounding Net-a-porter and putting her money behind companies including Farfetch, Moda Operandi and Lyst. 

Busquets is also an entrepreneur herself, starting her retail career while she was still studying at the University of Miami and, in the 1990s, founding Cabus, a multibrand luxury fashion retailer in Caracas.

She was particularly proud that Cult, an online beauty retailer founded by two young women in 2007, was well-run — and profitable. Indeed, Busquets’ passion lies in taking risks, empowering entrepreneurs and encouraging them to keep an eye on spending, pursue profit and work together with a sense of mutual respect.

Learn more about Busquets goal to seeing women become the executive leaders that they are capable of being.

What You Can Do to Attract Funding

Inspired Capital co-founder Alexa von Tobel talks about three ways (below) the entrepreneur turned investor suggests getting the attention of VCs.

1. Communicate your passion.
2. Prove that you're ready to learn.
3. Don't focus only on the money.

Read all her comments here.

Unmeasured Strength and Resilience

©2021 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

Remembering 911, we go back to a post we published about Lauren Manning and her book, "Unmeasured Strength," which is about how Lauren's life on September 11, 2001, changed forever. She tells the story of survival and transformation.

It's only fitting to repeat it.

The photo above is a 911 decal from my Dad's car window.  He passed away in 2011 but I saved the decal and affixed it to a window in my home.  Over the years, the flag's bright colors have faded but our memories of 911 are quite vivid.

Let's all honor the fallen and heroes of September 11, 2001.

Entrepreneurial Obsession by Laurel Delaney

©2021 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

Here are 13 ways to create a brighter future for your business.

Turning Limes to Limeade

Here are a few lessons you can learn from 5 global entrepreneurial icons who changed the face of American culture. Despite their early challenges, they managed to make their own way in life. We can learn from their endeavors and find opportunities in the unlikeliest places.  This is an article I [Laurel Delaney] wrote for American Express several years ago yet I still find in inspiring to read.  Hope you do, too.

In going after a dream, exercise unbridled enthusiasm until you achieve it.   So do something unusual to manifest your own latent entrepreneurial capabilities:  start a juice stand, backpack to India or sell a sketch to a neighbor.  

You never know where it will lead.  

How to Get a Good Night's Rest As a Business Owner During Tough Times

One of the key questions I always ask business owners:  what keeps you up at night?

Being a small business owner and a formally trained facilitator (e.g., Women Presidents' Organization Chicago Chapter Chair since 2003), I decided to take a different approach and asked 20 presidents of small businesses in marketing, interior design, insurance and a variety of other industries what’s allowing them to get a good night’s rest.

Here are the highlights of what they shared. 

Thought Leaders Who Knew Steve Jobs

©2011 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

Like millions of other people, I have been a fan of Steve Jobs for more than three decades.  Use all Apple products.  Read every book on Steve.  So when he passed in 2011, I felt this inner urge to glean any lessons I could from him. I wanted to find out what made this man so great. Why was he so cool? Is it possible to integrate his brilliance into our work ethic? How can we make the world a better and more inspiring place to live?

In attempting to find the answers to these questions, here’s what I discovered from Steve himself, and thought-leaders who knew him.

Hire More Entrepreneurs and Grow

What would you do if you were at the beginning stage of an enormous snowstorm that showed no signs up letting up?  Surely, to get ahead of it, you’d grab a shovel and start shoveling or jump in your car to buy the last snow blower on the floor.  Well, in our current economic mess due to the global pandemic, the solution is right in front of us, too.  

Hire the best and brightest entrepreneurs (yes – that’s us!), and put them to work!  Who else is going to try something new that will shake us out of these tiresome doldrums?  

Here are ten things entrepreneurs can do that make them smart power resources.

Never Slip Into Mediocrity

Achieving high performance in tough times, especially during a global pandemic, is a serious challenge small business owners face. The ultimate goal may be extraordinary business performance, but you can still get worried, comfortable and slip into mediocrity. 

For example, many people thought at the start of the pandemic - and this too shall pass.  So they waited.  And they waited.  And then they realized they would be waiting and basically doing nothing for nearly two years.

To obliterate status quo, do you have what it takes to become a high-performance leader even during the toughest times?  Ten traits characterize the people who do.  The key is to never slip into mediocrity and do nothing.

10 Questions to Ask (and Answer) to Achieve Bold Innovation

I have always felt that growth and profits come from some form of calculated risk.  You, too?

The essence of making revolutionary changes is taking risks. Bold risks produce bold innovation; they launch new products, services, and companies; they improve workplace conditions for employees; and they may even end up changing the world.

Here are 10 questions to ask (and answer) to help guide you and your organization to achieve bold innovation.  This is an article I [Laurel Delaney] wrote for American Express more than a decade ago and it still applies to today's world.

Don’t reinforce the old ways of doing things.  Continuing to take risks is an important part of achieving bold innovation.  

Think On Your Feet

To profit and prosper in any year, think on your feet, look for fresh conceptual insights all around you and practice a little spontaneous innovation (expression).  It can foster a climate in which we can make a difference and have an innovative impact within an organization. 

As we go forward in 2021, think carefully about your strategy for innovation in your business.  The genesis of every new product, business or service offering is a concept: an idea for something you believe people want and will buy at a price they can afford to pay you for the work needed to produce it.  Concepts can arise out of anything at any time.  I think of it as spontaneous innovation, which occurs in every aspect of our lives.  Some might refer to it as spontaneous expression, and it’s typically a moment that can’t be repeated easily.  

In this article I [Laurel Delaney] present four (4) examples.

March To Your Own Drum and Beat It With All Your Might

Innovation is such a personal, creative endeavor, but the influence of others plays a big role in helping us succeed. Here I share insights from some of those who’ve inspired me when it comes to developing innovative practices in my business. Perhaps they will have the same effect on you. If nothing else, this article will encourage you to take time out to reflect and work a little magic on the innovation front.

Oh, and at the end of each passage, there’s a lesson learned along with a big question to get a conversation going.

Happy Independence Day America and Happy 17th Anniversary EFCA!

©2021 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

We hope you are having liberty celebrations across America.  It's a chance to unite with family and friends and appreciate the moment when the Declaration of Independence was signed 245 years ago.  Your patriotism matters and is appreciated.

And at the same time, we celebrate with you the birth of Escape From Corporate America – some 17 years ago – on July 7, 2004.  Thank you for your readership.  Your engagement keeps me going.

16 Ways to Dodge the Post COVID-19 Crisis

Here's what I've heard many entrepreneurs and small business owners saying repeatedly about what they are doing to dodge a post COVID-19 or any economic crisis.  These tips will help you strengthen your business and the world.

Spice Things Up a Bit

While running your business through the global pandemic, how many times have you been told, "It's not working."  Really.  Think about it. 

Here are a couple of specific examples: You created a whole new way to pitch clients but haven't landed one new piece of business. You launched a new line of shoes and no one is buying them. You developed a brilliant method of allowing everyone in the world who has access to the Internet to connect on a platform to change the world, and only eleven people signed up.

Sound familiar?  Here are five signs that serve as early detectors of total business decay.  This is an article I [Laurel Delaney] wrote more than a decade ago yet it is still relevant to our times.

Bottom line:  Spice things up a bit and make some big bets.

Selfmade

Brit Morin thought up Selfmade under her Brit+Co, which helps people start businesses and make their own money, a little more than a year ago, when she was home-schooling her 4- and 6-year-old sons, and was reading articles about how the majority of jobs lost in the early weeks of the pandemic belonged to women. Economists were calling it a “Shecession.”

More than 1,000 women have completed the program. They range from 16 to 51 years old, and are from diverse backgrounds — stay-at-home mothers, burned-out executives, women laid off during the pandemic. More than half have been women of color.

Learn that anything is possible.

5 Ways to Get Double-Digit Growth For Your Business

The road to recovery due to the global pandemic is no excuse to settle for status quo or to not push hard for double-digit (10 percent or more) business growth.   

In the article below, I [Laurel J. Delaney] highlight some points in Michael Treacy's book, “Double-Digit Growth: How Great Companies Achieve It – No Matter What."  His insights are still relevant for today's business owners.  The five ways to go after growth consist of:

1. Get traction with your market share.   
2. Hold on to your hats — I mean customers!
3. Leverage market position.  
4. Move into new markets.  
5. Commission new lines of business. 

Read on to learn more. 

Women Entrepreneurs Must See Opportunity In Every Difficulty

Before the COVID-19 crisis, women-owned 40% of the businesses in the U.S., representing more than 12.3 million firms.

As of 2020, these companies employed nearly 9 million people and generated $1.8 trillion in sales. Last year alone, women started 1,821 new businesses every day.  Of these, over 60% were started by women of color, and Latina women-owned businesses grew more than 87%.

As Winston Churchill once said: “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

Women entrepreneurs must see opportunity in every difficulty, too.  Now is a perfect time to think about how to create a new market space. Your clients in the past — indeed, the whole marketplace — have changed. 

Take a look at seven areas women entrepreneurs can discover new ways to solve old problems and gain traction in our new world. 

Your Action, Not Your Words, Gets You Ahead

One of the classic ways to find out what is really going on with a business owner or top-level executive these days is to ask, “What’s keeping you up at night?”  Being a small business owner and a formally trained facilitator, I decided to take a different approach and asked 20 presidents of small businesses in marketing, interior design, insurance and a variety of other industries what’s allowing them to get a good night’s rest.  Here are the highlights of what they shared.

The one tip that trumps them all?  No. 10.

Deal with it.  Don’t think of surviving.  Think of thriving.  Action, not words, says it all.  Imagine yourself five years from now and where you will be.  If you can envision it, you can do it.  And end up sleeping like a baby.

How to Market Your Global Business Lady Gaga Style

The following is an article I [Laurel J. Delaney] wrote more than a decade ago and I still think it is relevant more than ever coming out of the global pandemic.  It was originally published by American Express.  I am surprised and delighted they had accepted it back then.  The photo that accompanies the piece is a little conservative but hey, you can't have everything!

American pop singer Lady Gaga has taken the world by storm with her robust voice, over-the-top theatrical performances and outrageous costumes. Global small business owners can learn from her without going to the same extremes. 

There are lots of little ways to reposition your business, be different, and have customers take notice of you both online and off. All it takes is a little innovation and determination.

Learn more.