The 2014 State of Women-Owned Businesses Report has been released by the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) and Web.com Group, Inc. According to the report, nearly nine out of 10 women business owners (87%) are optimistic about the economic outlooks for their businesses this year, which is a 12% increase over 2013 findings. When asked what they consider to … [Read more...]
5 Questions to Ask to Learn if Being an Entrepreneur Is Right for You
The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in today’s business community. I am living proof. Having established a business consulting firm 14 years ago, the reason we have survived is because we embrace this joie de vivre. If you are tired of working for someone else, or you are looking for a different strategy to balance work and home life, becoming an entrepreneur and … [Read more...]
Pitfalls to Avoid When Starting a Business
You’re not alone in your challenging struggle to grow your business. Many others have been through this path. Every business has its own set of unique challenges. Nothing grows from nothing so don't forget that tenacity is what even businesses like Google and Apple depend on. For a better chance at success, please don’t ignore the following common pitfalls. They aren’t cast … [Read more...]
10 Hot Topics that Mattered to Women in Business in 2013
What were the hot topics of 2013 for women in business? Looking back at the Women on Business archives from the past 12 months, a few topics take the lead: leadership, the business gender gap (including equal pay, the glass ceiling, and so on), and entrepreneurship. Following are some of the most popular articles published on Women on Business by both contributors and … [Read more...]
Overcoming the 3 Biggest Fears of Starting a Business
As a 32-year-old woman, I am well aware of all the challenges, heartache and fear that go into being self-employed. Three years ago, I was working as an attorney for a law firm. I was overworked, had no time to have a life and found myself wondering why in the world I had wasted so many years of my life getting a law degree. Fast-forward to today…although I work harder and am … [Read more...]
What Does Having It All Mean to You?
Recently, there has been a lot of debate among smart woman on whether Moms can truly have it “all.” Some, like Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg, say yes, and share their tips on how you too can have a thriving career and family. Others, like former State Department official Ann Marie Slaughter say no, unlike what we’ve always been told, for women it’s just not possible. At least … [Read more...]
From the World Series to the Boardroom
On Wednesday night, the umpires in the World Series gave the business world a lesson in quality. If a call is the right call, it’s the right call. The call was new, upset some people and could still have repercussions but the spirit of the call was spot on. The umps did what all entrepreneurs should do and here is what I learned from the call. Confer with your colleagues This … [Read more...]
Ch..Ch..Changes
I know that I’ve spoken of this before and I hate that I am writing about it again, but if I just had this situation chances are that many of my readers are struggling with something similar as well. I have a colleague that I worked with and the relationship crashed and burned. To me it was a part of business, while we did not work well together I didn’t see it as anything … [Read more...]
Women Catch the Entrepreneurial Spirit and Win
Sponsored by VISA Business: Over the past 15 years, the number of women-owned businesses has grown by 54%. Today, there are over 8 million women-owned businesses, and women are founding businesses at a rate 1.5 times higher than the national average. Those women-owned businesses generate revenues of $1.3 trillion and employ 7.7 million people. That’s 40% more people than … [Read more...]
Why Consultants Suck
I know what you’re thinking…I’m a consultant so either this is a self-loathing mea culpa or I have a point. Bear with me because I do in fact have a point. The thing about consultants is that we generally are really skilled at something, that’s why we’re consultants. But we are workers, fixers, problem solvers. We aren’t business owners and that is something that I have come up … [Read more...]