Women: The Male Business Perspective

Two Points of View

Recently, I was talking with a male entrepreneur whose company markets to women business owners. He had some insights about how women entrepreneurs operate that had me nodding in recognition.

First, women take time to build relationships. Second, we love to gather tons of information before making a decision. And third, we rarely buy without getting input from other women first. All these ways of operating made sense to me, but as we talked, I also began to see their downsides.

Relying on recommendations can lead you to buy something that’s great for your friend, but not so good for you. Gathering data is smart, but it’s easy to gather so much that you get overwhelmed. And building relationships is important, but sometimes you can’t afford to “take it slow.”

I left our meeting with a new appreciation of how important a male perspective can be. Next time you’re pondering a decision or stuck in a situation, consider getting some input from men. Whether it’s your significant other, a business colleague or a key employee, most likely, a man will have a completely different perspective on the issue–and you’ll gain a new insight that can get you over your hurdle.

Rieva Lesonsky, Guest Blogger
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Life Balance: Enhance Your Life

5 Ways to Improve Your Daily Life

As we spend more time at work and continue to feel the pressures of how to cope with daily stresses consider these tips that can improve your life.

1. Do something for someone else.  It can be rewarding and nurturing others can reduce stress.
2. Meditate: it only takes 10 minutes, sit comfortably, relax and focus on your breath with your eyes closed and your hands facing up on your lap
3. Spend quality time with others
4. Move more…exercise has been shown to elevate moods
5. Change your way of thinking…”how we think affects how we feel” Interrupt negative thoughts and replace them with constructive positive thoughts.

Please share things you have done to enhance your daily life.

Julie Brander, New Haven SCORE
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Giveaway: SCORE eNewsletters

Stay Current & Win!

The first 100 subscribers in November for eNews and ExpertANSWERS will win a complimentary SCORE Great Ideas notebook. Subscribe here.

SCORE eNews
Monthly tips, trends, articles and small business news.
111,000 subscribers and growing.
Read sample issue.

 

SCORE Expert Answers
Monthly Q&A interviews with key insights from a leading expert.
100,000 subscribers and growing.
Read sample issue with one of Oprah’s favorite financial gurus, Jean Chatzky.

Note: Winners must live in the continental United States. When subscribing, you must include your full name and mailing address in order to receive the notebook.

Christine Banning, SCORE
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Marketing: Back 2 Basics Tips

Marketing Self-Assessment

Tips on A Napkin

Who would have thought that the basics are still viable today, as it was years ago? Do a self-assessment and see where you stand in these back to basics tips.

A. Create An Informal Business & Marketing Plan, 1-3 Pages Each, As A Blue Print For Your Company

B. Marketing Business Basics:
1. Exercise A Professional Phone & Email Presence
- Let Your Smile Radiate Through The Phone
- Return Calls & Emails Within 24 Hours
- Develop A Brief Company Identity On Your Voicemail
- Use Proper Grammar, Especially On Emails

2. Exercise Professional Work Ethics
- Be The Employer, Not The Employee

3. Customer Service
- Service Your Customer: Internally & Externally
- Not Only Listen, But Hear Your Customers’ Needs

4. Networking
- Build Relationships
- Create Partnerships

5. Word of Mouth Travels Fast And Far

Marketing: Social Media

Tap the Power of Twitter to Search for Business Intelligence and Prospects

Learn to tap the power of Twitter search around your brand or business to gain insights on your market and to identify prospects.

This is the first of a three-part Twitter research tutorial, in pictures. I’ve created screen shots that relate to my nonprofit, SCORE Chicago, to use as examples.  SCORE, “Counselors to America’s Small Business,” offers free business counseling and inexpensive business workshops to entrepreneurs and small business owners. One of our most important keyword phases is “business plan Chicago.”

Twitter Search

To learn who it talking about business plans near Chicago, I can run a search. I might use the Advanced Search Form or search query terms Twitter specifies. Here’s my search for tweets with our main keyword in the Chicago area:

Success: SCORE Salutes Small Biz Success

Outstanding Minority-owned Business Award Haas Media LLC

The first-ever SCORE Awards honors the success of America’s small businesses in a time of economic recovery.

SCORE honored Kim Haas, owner of Haas Media LLC, with the Outstanding Minority-owned Business Award. Haas Media is a communications company providing media consulting, community outreach, educational initiatives, training and editing services. Her firm provides English, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian translation for corporations, government agencies, small businesses, nonprofits and community organizations.

Haas combined her love of languages and cultures with communications and started her Milwaukee-based business in 2003. After relocating to New York City in 2006, one of the first things she did was contact SCORE’s Manhattan office. “I’d learned about SCORE while living in Milwaukee,” Haas says. “Anyone even thinking about starting a business should check out SCORE. They give you great insights on things to think about. And, it’s always nice to have someone in your corner who’s always there for you.”

Check out all the SCORE award winners.

SCORE Association
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Women: Do We Have an Edge in the Recession?

The Female Advantage

Today’s tough economy calls for using every tool in our toolbox to keep our businesses growing. Personally, I think women entrepreneurs have a couple of advantages here.

First, we tend to be more intuitive—more willing to go with our gut to come up with creative solutions for doing things differently. Second, we’re more willing to share advice and ideas with others—and to learn from others, whether that means our colleagues, employees or customers. So take advantage of this fact and start gathering ideas from every source you can think of. That could mean using an online survey tool, holding a focus group, brainstorming with your staff, picking your best customers’ brains over lunch or talking to other business owners in an online or offline community. Find out what your customers want, what your employees think and how other entrepreneurs are handling tough times. Then, use your creativity to make this knowledge work for you.

Rieva Lesonsky, Guest Blogger
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Entrepreneurs: Twitter

2 Women Entrepreneurs to Follow on Twitter — Who Else Would You Nominate?

The Mashable Blog just had a post about 10 Essential Entrepreneurs to Follow on Twitter.  Two women made the list. I’d like to introduce them to you and get your nominations for more women entrepreneurs with useful tweets on Twitter.

Leila Janah

Leila C. Janah on Twitter

Leila is founder of Samasource, which provides digital work for Kenyan refugees.

Caterina Fake on Twitter

Caterina is a female entrepreneur with a major success under her belt — co-founder of the photo-sharing website Flickr – and a new and exciting project — Hunch – underway.

Who else would you nominate?

Please leave me a comment, a one sentence bio, and their Twitter name.  The voting booth is open.

And come connect with me on Twitter:  @pcorwin

Peg Corwin, SCORE Chicago
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Communication: Get the “Wow” Factor!

Get Inspired

Business today is more challenging than ever before. Inspiration is what we need to be better at what we do. I just attended a business expo in NYC and was able to listen to some inspiring business authors.

Frances Cole Jones was a dynamic speaker who wrote “The Wow Factor.” Her focus is on developing effective communication skills. The things that she spoke about may also be helpful to you.

An audience will assess you when you speak: verbally, vocally and visually. We all know this when we hear any speaker, we judge them and have our first impressions. Here are a few interesting facts that Frances mentions:

• 7% is verbal, what you say and how you say it.
• 38% is vocal, tone, quality and enthusiasm.
• 55% is visual, what your body is doing.
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Three Tips

1. Never use a podium as your body is much more interesting and memorable for an audience. Keep your hands open and visible, never fold your arms or fold your hands. Studies have shown that people trust you more when they can see your hands.
2. Include stories when speaking as stories are more compelling and memorable when a point is being made.
3. Remember the rule of three. People can only remember three things, so when making a point use only three examples.

I would recommend this book as it has so many more things that will help you in today’s business world, www.thewowfactor-thebook.com.

Julie Brander, New Haven SCORE
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Marketing: Twitter for Business

Grow Your Biz Using Social Media

Avaya’s Small Business Communications Makeover Contest
Small Biz Contest. What’s Your Disconnect? Want to win a communications makeover and new IP office system? Enter Avaya’s Small Business Communications Makeover Contest. Submit a short video or online written entry about communications “disconnects” costing your businesses pain, time and money. Enter by October 15th. Enter here.

DELUXE Corporation Foundation Provides Major Grant
DELUXE Corporation Foundation selects SCORE as a major grant recipient to develop a new counseling methodology for small business mentoring. This methodology will help increase business survival rates and create new business and jobs. SCORE thanks DELUXE for its tremendous support of small business. Learn more.

Avaya’s Small Business Communications Makeover Contest
Small Biz Contest. What’s Your Disconnect? Want to win a communications makeover and new IP office system? Enter Avaya’s Small Business Communications Makeover Contest. Submit a short video or online written entry about communications “disconnects” costing your businesses pain, time and money. Enter by October 15th. Enter here.