Develop a Mindset Driven By Curiosity to Explore the World in Different Ways

Babson Professor Heidi Neck’s new 2022 course is Ideate, based in part on her 2020 book, The IDEATE Method: Identifying High-Potential Entrepreneurial Ideas. She describes the class as a mixture of creativity, idea generation, and the entrepreneurial mindset. The output of the course is 100 high-potential entrepreneurial ideas per student.

It’s not about a deep vetting of those ideas,” she added. It’s also not about feasibility analysis, minimum viable product, and design thinking. That’s for Babson’s other courses to explore. “This class is about developing a mindset driven by curiosity to explore the world in different ways. And, from that, using creativity to take what they learned in that exploration to create new ideas, and then building courage to share those ideas and take action under conditions of uncertainty.”

Neck has built a successful and influential career on identifying ideas, taking action, and teaching entrepreneurially.  She has done such a good job for 21 years at Babson that she has been recognized as one of the very best entrepreneurship educators.

Learn more about Neck, her class and what's so special about it.

Women Entrepreneurs Pursue Success Despite Unique Challenges

Despite unique challenges – global pandemic, gender issues, and lack of capital, for example –  many women are passionate about realizing their dream of starting a business, and results of a new AARP survey show the COVID-19 pandemic did not stop them.

The results revealed that “want” rather than “need” most often motivated women’s decisions to become entrepreneurs. 

AARP research reflects a need for additional support and training for women entrepreneurs to grow their business. Respondents said they were looking for resources on marketing (24%), recruiting and hiring staff (11%), and financing (10%), and these areas were where women were most likely to have sought out training.

How We Can Turn the Tide To Create Gender Parity in Entrepreneurship

Countless studies have shown the many benefits that women entrepreneurs bring to the table. 

In the UK alone, for example, up to £250 billion of new value could be added to the economy if women launched and scaled new businesses at the same rate as British men, generating jobs and unlocking new opportunities for many.

Women should be at the forefront of the entrepreneurial scene. The flexibility that comes with self-employment – the autonomy to choose how and which work and family roles to prioritize– makes being your own boss an attractive proposition for many women.

Despite entrepreneurial opportunity being present all over the world, not everyone has the same access to resources or the right support system to take an idea forward. The reality is, women feel this impact more than men.

How do you turn the tide to create gender parity in entrepreneurship?  To turn the tide for female entrepreneurs, women need to have access to the right resources (for instance, capital) and receive the right support right from the outset. And this can only be achieved through public and private sector collaboration.

Read the entire article here.

It's Time For Meaningful Change For Women Entrepreneurs

Women should be empowered to nurture their entrepreneurial aspirations within the traditional corporate structure.  How do you do this?  

Consider women's entrepreneurial interests and provide purposeful support – even if that's outside your organization. This could take the form of providing grants or time off for side hustles, more flexible work schedules to foster autonomy or a shift to deliverable-oriented performance structures.

Supporting women, particularly women of color, at all levels of your organization helps to ensure that you're not wasting the talent you've invested in.

Read on to learn how to inspire and support women entrepreneurs.

Women and Entrepreneurs of Color Are Flocking to Entrepreneurship

What's the biggest rival for businesses?  Self-employed individuals, better known as entrepreneurs.  They are creating jobs and economic opportunity.

According to recent research by Gusto in its New Business Owner Survey, 36% of entrepreneurs said they started their business after voluntarily quitting their job. 

One of the key trends from the survey is that women and entrepreneurs of color are flocking to entrepreneurship.  

Founders of new businesses were much likely to be Black, Hispanic, and female in 2020 and 2021 than in 2019. In 2019, 28% of new business owners were women, versus 49% in 2021. And in 2019, Black or African American entrepreneurs made up less than 3% of entrepreneurs; by 2021 that share had tripled to 9%.

New business creation is making a comeback.  Why not control your destiny?

Women Business Owners Are Making History, Always

Women-owned businesses are essential to economic stability and recovery and supporting them is a smart economic decision.

Women are making history as the primary breadwinners for their families while also leading about 40% of households. With these factors combined, supporting small businesses owned by women from all socioeconomic groups means supporting companies that contribute to local economies and provide good jobs.

Read on to learn how continuing to empower women-owned businesses will strengthen our global economy.

How HER Side Hustle Makes $15,000 a Month

TikToker, Yamie Michelin, broke down how she's been able to make $15,000 a month by selling merchandise from discount retailer Marshalls on Amazon for a much higher price.

Michelin, who goes by @yamie_the_realtor on TikTok with no less than 41.5K followers and 820.8K Likes, first said she searches for products at discount stores. In one example, she purchased two primers from Sephora that she found at Marshalls for $3.99 and resold the items for $22.54 each.

Some sellers have even seemed to crack a code by outsourcing products from wholesale companies or discount retailers where they can buy bulk products cheaper and then resell them for a higher price, turning a profit without minimum effort.

Is it ethical?  

Is it ethical or fair when 7-Eleven charges $1.39 for a can of Campbell's Chicken Noodle soup and the Dollar Store charges 99 cents?

Read on to learn how Yamie's side hustle passively makes $15,000 each month.  

Chicago-based Bluedog is a Top 100 Finalist Again for Crain's Top Places to Work 2022

How do you strengthen your company to be a best place to work? Chicago-based Bluedog's CEO Michelle Hayward has the answer. For the fifth consecutive year Bluedog, a certified B Corp, has been recognized by Crain's Chicago Business as a Top Place to Work.  Bluedog claimed the No. 1 position in 2021.

“Being among the Top 100 Places to Work during the ongoing pandemic feels particularly meaningful,” said Michelle Hayward, Bluedog’s CEO. “From the start, we built a supportive culture, and the last two years proved the trust-building ways of working and mutuality we developed. We all grew and evolved around this moment together.”

About Bluedog

Bluedog Design is a dynamic marketing and growth consultancy founded in 1999. Globally recognized as a leading innovation partner, Bluedog helps large, complex organizations (many of them household names) find the clarity to make strategic decisions that land in growth. Since 2020, the company has also been a Certified B Corporation, accountable for advancing sustainability, transparency and ethics to make business a force for good in the world.

Read more:  Bluedog Is A Crain’s Chicago Finalist For Top Place To Work – Again

Knowledge, Networks and Access: Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE)

Have you ever had this happen and reacted similarly?

“When they called to tell me about my acceptance, the first thing I said was ‘I think you have the wrong person,’” she [Cathy Perugachi, co-founder of e-commerce business, Quipu Pallay] recounts. 

Academy for Women Entrepreneurs alumna Cathy Perugachi is an Ecuadorian fashionista who is helping women redefine their self-image from the inside out.

Perugachi says that participating in a U.S. Embassy-led initiative like AWE is prestigious thanks to its proximity to the U.S. business community. "It is not just any type of network, it gives you a golden pass to boost not only your business but also your professional growth,” she says. “It gives you a sense of name recognition and legitimacy.” 

The Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE), a program of the U.S. Department of State, gives women the knowledge, networks, and access they need to launch and scale successful businesses.

Learn more at:  A Bridge Between: Creating Opportunities for Women Entrepreneurs

Lead With Compassion

Compassion, the cornerstone of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), isn’t always afforded to women entrepreneurs, who often face barriers to progress in the workplace — and in other aspects of society. 

Women entrepreneurs perhaps know better than most how essential compassion in the workplace truly is. Cultivating a compassionate environment not only helps women entrepreneurs manage their own businesses and personal life with more balance and ease but also fosters an environment of diversity that helps other women and under-represented groups succeed.

Discover 4 types of compassion women entrepreneurs can cultivate to navigate trying times in business and in life.

Black Women Entrepreneurs Give Their Best Startup Advice

These badass business owners featured in the article below are changing the game from skincare, to life coaching, to mental health-conscious apparel.

When Black women are still making 63 cents for every dollar a white man makes, it’s imperative that we support each other – whether that’s through a purchase, a referral, an Instagram follow, or a retweet. When one of us comes up, we all come up!

Here, five entrepreneurs are asked about their mission, and what it means to them to be a Black woman entrepreneur.  They also share  advice for the next class of melanated moguls.

More Working Moms Push to Work For Themselves

As COVID upended domestic life, women's rate of self-employment rose faster than the share of men in the sector.

According to Crain's Chicago Business, the share of women who work for themselves has been trending upwards for the last decade, and experts say the pandemic accelerated the shift for working parents who were disproportionately shouldering child care and home responsibilities. The percentage of women who reported being self-employed rose faster during the pandemic than the rate for men.

“In the absence of a really supportive private sector for work-family balance, I think women are finally realizing that self-employment is that alternative,” says Milli, who founded Research 2 Impact, a consulting firm specializing in economic and social policy issues disproportionately impacting women and people of color.

Read on to learn how more working moms, to find balance amid a pandemic, are pushing to work for themselves.  It's an escape from the regular 9-5 job and allowing women to control their destiny.

Navigating Gender-Based Obstacles

Women face significant challenges in obtaining venture funding but what happens once they've moved into the growth phase? Research reveals women entrepreneurs run into gender-based impediments but develop successful strategies to overcome them.

To better understand those obstacles, a research project was launched by Babson’s Center for Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership (CWEL) and Bank of America Private Bank. Ultimately, findings revealed that women who have built successful companies had to navigate significant gender-based obstacles. In doing so, these women created alternate paths to success for themselves, and for other determined female entrepreneurs.

Read on to discover the three key themes that emerge relating to the challenges women entrepreneurs faced when growing their businesses.  Be sure to review the Executive Summary.

Dynamic Black Female Entrepreneurs Operating in the Skincare Industry

The 2022 ESSENCE Festival of Culture saw skincare giant Aveeno partner with ESSENCE to present the Aveeno SkinHealth Startup Accelerator Showcase Winner’s Circle on the Beauty Carnival stage. 

The grand-prize winner received $100,000 in funding for her business, while the runner-up received $50,000 in funding for her business. 

Read a little about both winners and their brands here.

Keep True

How the Mighty Succeed!

Some articles I've written are worth re-sharing.  This is one of them, Global Small Business:  How the Mighty Succeed (Despite Harsh Economic Times).  Perfect fit to our current times.  It goes like this.

Remember when you were a teeny, tiny business — a one-man or one-woman shop — where you wore every hat imaginable to get a job done? You would proudly announce, “There is no job I won’t do to grow my business!” Fast-forward to where you are now and where you would like to be in the future. That’s what this article is all about. As a successful SMB, you’re already “faster than a speeding bullet …,” energetic, enthusiastic, adaptable, flexible, accessible, decisive, nimble, innovative, responsive — in other words, pretty mighty already. 

But, all things considered, are you strong enough to continue driving your business results to the next level?

Real Emotional Intelligence Matters

I've often felt that real emotional intelligence is about 'caring' and that all humans have that trait within them – sometimes you just have to pull it out or discover it.

One method I have used over the years on connecting with caring people is this.  When I share scary news with someone I know by email (this is the equivalent of being vulnerable), for example, I not only see how fast they respond, but how they respond.  No response at all, well, that's real emotional immaturity.  A response that ignores the elephant on the table and barely goes there is emotional shallowness.  But I must say that it works every time.  The more I have dealings with the person who didn't respond or didn't go there, the more I realize they don't have real emotional intelligence or a caring nature.  Not someone I would want on my team.

Obviously no one wants to drop bad news on anyone, especially people you don't know well, but you can use this same technique by sharing any information that requires someone to think deeply and think through what you have just shared.  How do they respond?  

In this article, Marcel Schwantes provides 4 clues to help you identify someone with real emotional intelligence.  Working with a team that possesses these traits will lead to immense success. 

We Are Seeing a Promising Trend Upwards in Female Entrepreneurship

The world is full of extraordinary women in a variety of leadership positions all across the globe, and yet seemingly, they are not taken as seriously as men in the world of business.

We are now seeing a promising trend upwards in female entrepreneurship, a level playing field for both men and women in entrepreneurship. In this article, Nathan Ortega sits down with the Founders of J’adore Les fleurs to learn how women bring a competitive edge to business as they lead the way for female entrepreneurs everywhere.  

Escape From Corporate America Blog Celebrates Its 18th Anniversary!

©2022 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

Eighteen (18) years ago today – July 2, 2004 – I [Laurel J. Delaney] started this blog, Escape From Corporate America.

Thank you for your engagement and readership all these years. We have more than 20,000 visitors a month who want to know more about breaking away from Corporate America and starting a business.  I look forward to many more years together.

• 1st post July 2, 2004 – trying to figure things out
• 2nd post July 2, 2004 – still trying to figure things out
• 3rd post July 7, 2004 – deciding we should state why we are here!

Colossal Mistake: Roe v. Wade Overturned

©2022 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

Women should have a right to choose.