Celebrating Women in Business

business disrupters | game changers | innovative thinkers | rebel rousers

TM

BizPeake

complimentary a B2B magazine for the Chesapeake Bay Region issue #5

Celebrating Women In Business – We Keep It Local.

womens’ issue

Meet Our Mavericks, Visionaries & Pioneers

2000 – CELEBRATING 15 YEARS IN BUSINESS – 2015

What do you want to happen?

INSIDE THE BOX. OUTSIDE THE BOX. CREATIVE STRATEGY.

INSIDE THE BOX. OUTSIDE THE BOX. CREATIVE STRATEGY.

FULL CIRCLE DESIGN COMMUNICATIONS

DONACODESIGN.COM | 410.224.3878

We start there... and work backwards, so it does.

CONTENTS PUBLISHER’S LETTER

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FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY words by Sheri Hamberger, CPA & Heather Lalor, CPA

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LEE ANDERSON & PATTI WHITE – MVP 11 words by Jamie M. Kizer TIME TO EMPTY YOUR HEAD TRASH 13 words by Stephen Hall THE 8 STEPS OF COMMERCIAL LEASING 15 words by Scott Douglas THE COLORFUL WORLD OF KAELI SMITH – MVP 16 words by Jamie M. Kizer MEET KAREN SUTTER – MVP 18 words by Jamie M. Kizer 2016 WEC SPEAKER LINE- UP 20 WOMEN…AND FINE WINE 22 words by George Oliphant THEIR VOICES ARE HEARD 24 words by Janice F. Booth DIETARY GREENS: A PATH TO INCREASED PROFITABILITY 27 words by Christine Hunt THE FUTURE IS SEARCH 28 words by Susan Schauer John A Future in Focus: Janna Ashton – MVP 31 words by Jamie M. Kizer

The Business of Golf 34 words by Sarah Hagerty Semper Gumby! 37 words by Mark Thorn

ON THE COVER: To celebrate and highlight our 2016 Women in Business Issue, we thought who better to place on the cover than some of the women featured in this issue, as well as those who will be speaking at the First Annual Women Entrepreneurs Conference on April 6, 2016.

All of the women are truly MVPs of Business™.

They are indeed Mavericks, Visionaries, and Pioneers!

Celebrating Women In Business – We Keep It Local.

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How to Get Your Business Brand Right 33 words by Maggie Sterner

FOUNDER & PUBLISHER Jamie M. Kizer Jamie@BizPeakeJournal.com

LOYAL OFFICE COMPANION Zoey – #pleasesendtreats

EDITOR Sarah Hagerty

CREATIVE DIRECTOR / DESIGN DONACO Design Communications

VP SALES & MARKETING Nick Koscielniak

SR. ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Tammy Bowers Kerin Hillery

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Janice F. Booth Scott Douglas Stephen Hall Sheri Hamburger, CPA Christine Hunt Susan Schauer John Heather Lalor, CPA George Oliphant Maggie Sterner Mark Thorn

COUNTY DISTRIBUTION

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Anne Arundel Calvert Dorchester Howard Kent Montgomery Prince George’s Queen Anne’s Talbot

SUBMISSIONS news/events to share, ideas for future articles and businesses/people to feature, or to become a contributing writer, contact: jamie@bizpeakejournal.com | BizPeake Journal – 126 West Street, Annapolis, MD 21401 | 410-705-4415 \ www.bizpeakejournal.com For Complimentary

Journal Subscription

Copyright ©2016 BizPeake Media, LLC™. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form, including photography, without permission. BizPeake Journal™ is published 6 times per year. Subscriptions are free and will be sent to your home or business at no charge.

@BizPeakeJournal

Leadership Anne Arundel is now accepting applications for its next

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Join them. Class size is limited, so apply today!

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LETTER

FROM THE

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W

ow…wow…wow...look at these amazing women business owners on the cover; throughout this issue of BizPeake Journal; and presenting at the First Annual Women Entrepreneur’s Conference of the Chesapeake Bay Region! I am in awe.

It has been such a humbling, gratifying, and inspiring opportunity to talk with, learn from and share the stories of these amazing women. All of you who are business owners, regardless of age, gender, race or industry, know that starting, owning and growing a business, is no easy feat. As they say, “if it was easy, everyone would be an entrepreneur.” While each of these women have different backgrounds, experiences, stories and goals, the one thing that they all have in common is that they are “givers.” They “give” to their customers, their employees, their families, and most importantly, to their communities. These women, and most women business owners that I’ve met throughout my 100 or so years of being an entrepreneur :) all seem to live by the mantra that “To Whom Much is Given, Much is Expected.”

I hope that you too are inspired by all of these dynamic women and consider coming out to meet them in person at the Women’s Conference on April 6th (for more details see pg. 19).

Speaking of dynamic be sure to check out the interview with our youngest “MVP of business” to date, Kaeli Smith (pg 16).

You will surely be blown away by the accomplishments of this young dynamo, and looking at her artwork and designs, will surely put you in the mood for spring. Not sure about you, but I am SO ready for the season of renewal, awakening, and growth.

Along those lines, we’re thrilled to announce our own season of renewal and growth. Not only have we successfully completed a redesign of BizPeake Journal (thanks to DONACO Design Communications); continued to grow in staff size, geographical coverage (expanded into Prince George’s, Howard and Montgomery counties), and distribution sites, but we’ve move into a new, incredibly creative and more visible location. Our new offices are right in the heart of Annapolis (126 West Street – adjacent to the Loews Hotel) and we invite all of you to stop by to say hello, grab a cup of coffee and hang out on our one-of-a-kind ORANGE vintage sofa (which we call Mabel – after the original owner and grandmother of my dear friend and fellow Rotarian, Leigh Rand.)

I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention my “loyal office companion, Zoey” who is shown here checking out the new digs and protecting her Mama!! BTW, if you too are looking for a new office location, I encourage you to read our article about the 8 steps of commercial leasing (pg. 15).

There are so many wonderful nuggets of information in this current issue of BizPeake Journal, about the business climate for women business owners in the region (pg. 31); the head trash that we all need to dump asap (pg. 13); the reasons why we need to learn to play the game of golf to improve our businesses (pg. 34); the ways in which we can sustain our financial growth (pg. 8); and how acting strategically by remaining “Semper Gumby” will benefit you in the long run (pg. 37).

Lastly, I’d love to give a huge “shout-out” to our guest photographer, Janna Ashton, who took the time out of her incredibly hectic schedule (her story on pg. 31) to visit with and shoot on location, the amazing MVPs of Business featured in this issue.

With tremendous gratitude and in the spirit of this season, I ask each of you to...

“TALK MOVIE TO ME” To your continued success, With love and gratitude, Jamie JAMIE M. KIZER, FOUNDER AND PUBLISHER

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.

John Quincy Adams

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FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY Planning A Successful Business Environment

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WORDS BY HEATHER LALOR, CPA AND SHERI HAMBURGER, CPA TOAL, GRIFFITH & RAGULA, LLC

n today’s society, the term “sustainability” is, oftentimes, synonymous with the environment—what can we do now to prolong our ecosystem? We start recycling programs, innovate ways to conserve energy, and even develop more efficient means when using natural resources. In the business world, sustainability is viewed in more financial terms—what do we need to do to keep our business “in the black”? We set profit margin goals, monitor budgets and financial statements, and even explore new markets in which to diversify our products and/or services. Even though more and more companies pay close attention to both their fiscal and environmental impacts, this article focuses on the financial aspect of sustainability.

Financial sustainability is whether or not a business can THRIVE over the long-term; it is a company’s ability to generate income in response to consumer demand such that it can sustain productivity at a constant or increasing rate for a period of time. While many businesses focus on short-term profits and make decisions in reaction to their bottom line, financially-sustainable companies intend to be in business for the long-term and make their decisions based on an established plan. Such a plan will result in finances being more secure,

which means that management can focus additional time on their product and/or service and less on day-to-day fiscal survival. A financial sustainability plan will also allow companies to be more competitive in their particular industry since stronger finances are proven to attract more qualified staff which, in turn, results in a better work product.

When you start to develop a financial sustainability plan, be patient; planning and implementation will not happen overnight. You will need to decide who will help in the planning process which may consist of management, board members, and key staff. By having a diverse sustainability committee structure, your plan will include the differing perspectives that it takes to make a business successful.

You can also use your committee members to communicate to the rest of your staff what is happening, which will build an environment of trust throughout the company and may lead to excellent feedback that the committee had not yet thought of.

Your financial sustainability plan must first establish a commitment to long-term objectives; this will mean that, in the short-term, you may have to sacrifice spending money on non-essential items in order to even make it to any longterm goals of financial success. Keeping that commitment in mind, you will start to invest time and money in order to make money; this

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NBC’s report: Innovating for Sustainability BUSINESS VALUATIONS—provides you with a realistic view of how your expenditures are affecting profitability, as well as assist you in making plans for your company’s future.

FORECASTS—will prepare you for future uncertainties, helping you to either react more quickly to threats that arise or to mitigate them altogether.

PROJECTIONS—may already be an annual occurrence in your business; the process is, oftentimes, more important than the result because of the strategic planning that is involved.

TAX PLANNING—intended to help you minimize the amount of your business tax liability, which will result in more money for expenses, investments and growth.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Sheri Hamburger, CPA (R) and Heather Lalor, CPA (L) are with the firm of Toal, Griffith & Ragula, LLC. They can be contacted at: shamburger@tgacpa.com or hlalor@tgacpa.com respectively.

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Whether you plan for your business to be environmentally—or financially— sustainable, or both, one fact remains the same: planning to be sustainable takes time and money, but having a plan is well worth the effort!

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will be reflected by the development of a goal timeline—list out your business goals and when you want them occur. With timeline in hand, conduct a feasibility study to determine which goals are worthwhile, begin to identify profitable markets, opportunities, competition, and then budget for the income and expense items associated with attaining each goal that you plan to move forward with. Finally, it is time to implement your plan with teamwork; it is extremely important that your vision of sustainability is communicated across the entire company so that everyone, no matter their role, understands and embraces it.

It is at this point where many plans stagnate, so be mindful that implementation is not a onetime effort. You must continually monitor your progress and make any adjustments necessary to ensure continued success. If you are not able to stick to the established timeline, don’t give up!

Many unforeseen circumstances can, and most likely will, impede progress towards reaching your goals along the way; focus on pushing through those roadblocks to get back on track as soon as possible. Some good news is that, the stronger your finances are, the less impact unplanned issues will have on your business and the quicker you will be able to react when such issues do arise. Remember to “dust off your plan” on an annual basis to ensure that it is still viable, as well as to remind both management and staff of the vision that is being carried out.

Aside from the plan itself, an integral aspect of a financially-sustainable business is continued innovation—that could be with brand new products and/or services, staying current in an ever-changing environment, or utilizing new developments, like social media, to boost your business.

The report (http://nbs.net/knowledge/ strategy/innovation) identified three ways business leaders can drive innovation: “look for trends in emerging economies or unrelated industries; initiate partnerships with universities and colleges to fill internal knowledge gaps; and institute incentive programs that reward employees for suggesting ideas that save energy, reduce material use and improve products.” In a period of small margins, many companies struggle to justify spending what little excess they do have in developing long-term projects with unknown returns. Business leaders have differing comfort levels when it comes to risk, and many deem sustainabilityrelated improvements as too risky.

Some level of innovation is absolutely necessary for long-term success, so take a deep breath and plunge into the deepest innovative waters that you feel comfortable swimming in.

You may also consider engaging your CPA to see how they can elevate your financial sustainability plan to an even higher level by:

Support and Come Visit the…

MARCH Credit Education Month National Women’s History Month Spiritual Wellness Month Employee Appreciation Day: 4th Organize your Home Office Day: 8th Women in Construction Week: 6-12 National Agriculture Week: 13-19 St. Patrick’s Day: 17th National Renewable Energy Day: 21st Maryland Day: 25th

Visit this national model for a state-based, comprehensive center and museum honoring the legacy of Maryland women and girls, preserving their contributions and building an inclusive future.

Learn about the incredible strength and innovations of Maryland women.

Explore and Be Inspired by the contributions of Maryland women in varied fields, from STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) to the Arts.

National Mom & Pop Business Owner’s Day: 29th

FUN-FACT DATES APRIL Celebrate Diversity Month

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The Maryland Women’s Heritage Center y to tell ourstory histor o t tory hers g n i 410.708.2442 Add mwhcdiana@gmail.com Center Location:

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Financial Literacy Month Workplace Conflict Awareness Month National Walk to Work Day: 1st National Volunteer Week: 10-16 Income Tax Pay Day: 15th Earth Day: 22nd Administrative Professionals Week: 24-30 National Environmental Education Week: 24-30 World Intellectual Property Day: 26 Take your Son/Daughter to work day: 28

PHOTO CREDIT: JANNA ASHTON

LEE ANDERSON AND PATTI WHITE–READY FOR THEIR CLOSE-UPS The Annapolis Film Festival, produced by our dynamic duo, sets sail on March 31st treating movie lovers to 70 films in four days.

WORDS BY JAMIE M. KIZER

one of their fundamental credos: “Great love & great achievement involve great risk.”

Their other mantra is: “Whatever it takes.

In this industry, you need to be creative and resourceful in completing and executing a vision—particularly once you’ve committed to a project and start filming.”

Their business advice includes: • Reinvent constantly (your knowledge, your circle of influence, etc.); remain adaptable and flexible. You’ve got to stay on top of changes or else you’ll be left behind.

• Have a passion and self-belief for what you want. Stay in control and grounded. Focus on a path that makes sense, and surround yourself with the right people.

• Be persistent. There’s never just one way to do something. Just put it out there and the universe will align. Most people want to help—you just need to ask.

• Never give up.

Lee Anderson and Patti White’s business sense is also coupled with a strong sense of community. As co-founders of the non-profit 501(c)3 Film Festival they are both very much committed to creating and working on things that build a legacy and involve community. It’s all about making a difference.

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independent filmmaker in L.A. By the time Patti’s husband’s yacht manufacturing business brought them to Annapolis, her company had both East and West Coast offices.

Their industry is stressful, especially around Festival time. There are a lot of emotions involved with film and filming. Both Lee and Patti have learned to manage the stress by tackling things together. Theirs is a close, symbiotic relationship, and it has been there since day one. They can tell what the other is thinking just by looking at each others faces.

In addition to the nonprofit Annapolis Film Festival, Lee Anderson and Patti White also run a local production company, Filmsters, specializing in video, TV feature films, documentaries, corporate videos, and independent films. They also maintain a popular summer camp, Filmsters Academy, that teaches filmmaking to kids ages 11 to 18.

A painting in the Filmsters office displays

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T

he movie industry may be the stuff that dreams are made of, but it is still very much a business. A very big business. Domestic box office grosses in 2015 totaled more than $11 billion dollars, and that’s just the tip of the industry iceberg. It is also the creative umbrella that encompasses movies, TV, commercials, animation, and instructional and educational material, to name a few.

Business partners, Lee Anderson and Patti White, are not movie-fan dilettantes. They are experienced business people who bring some serious credentials to the Film Festival project. They have professionally thrived in a sometimes challenging business, especially for women—only fourteen percent of commercial directors, for instance, are women.

After college, Lee began her career as a news and commercial producer for several Maryland outlets. Five years after first meeting (they were introduced by a shared hairstylist), Lee started working with Patti.

Patti began her career right out of college and started out in New York as a broadcast journalist— eventually becoming a producer of several magazine shows including 60 Minutes and CBS Reports. After years in New York, Patti headed west and became an

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TIME TO EMPTY YOUR HEAD TRASH

If you are a human being, you have head trash!

WORDS BY STEPHEN HALL

From birth to about age six, we “record” things we learn about life. We listened to our parents who gave us the rules for our life: “Look both ways before you cross the street; don’t talk to strangers; it’s not polite to talk about money; don’t ask too many questions—it’s nosy and none of your business.” And now, the irony of it is that as a salesperson, we meet strangers, talk about money and ask lots of questions (or we should, that is).

You see, your “head trash” is trying to govern your behavior, your thoughts regarding some subject. You hate talking about money, so you avoid it. The bad news is that your money head trash will always be in your brain—it’s a permanent recording. The good news is that you can give yourself permission to set those recordings aside and not abide by them.

You can tell yourself that they are no longer relevant for this circumstance—in essence, give yourself permission to talk about list price with confidence and conviction. You are then adding “new” recordings that you can choose to play, like tracks of your play-list.

And those new recordings will get you farther with your prospect and you will suddenly be comfortable—no more cold sweats—when you are talking about money.

On your next sales call give yourself permission to bring up money EARLY and let your prospect know that you are comfortable talking about money—it’s the language of business. And give yourself a break and set aside those recordings that have become selflimiting beliefs. Channel your views about money—or any other head trash, like making cold calls, presenting a proposal, asking way more questions than you’re used to—and turn these self-limiting beliefs into strengths.

Yes, the recordings will still be “in there”— you just don’t have to listen to them any more!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Stephen Hall is the Owner/President of Maryland Sales Training and Management Development, Inc.

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Early Recordings Stick With You

about you?

There is a good saying that goes: “Money is the language of business. Businesspeople talk about money every day and they expect me to talk about it, too.” Why then does money get talked about LAST? Why is it at the back of the proposal instead of in the Executive Summary?

Why do we wait so long before we bring up the notion of budget, price, and cost?

It’s an area where we often need some guidance. Here are some quick tips when it comes to talking about money with your clients or prospects: Bring it up early and determine if you should continue or not.

“So let me ask: Do you have a budget for this? Can you share that with me—in round numbers?” And what happens if their budget in “round numbers” is far less than your product or service? Isn’t now—NOW—the time to talk about that? “Oh, we may have a problem. Our product/service is more than that. What do you think—should we stop?”

Give Yourself Permission To Talk About Money

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Y

ou have a secret enemy, and it’s the kind of thing that can stop you cold.

You are carrying it with you right now—it’s in your head!

This enemy is what we call Head Trash. It’s the negative thoughts, feelings, or emotions you have, and the assumptions that you make about them. They are your beliefs about “things” and they are not always the truth!

But for just about every one of us, we still have those “head trash” messages limiting our performance—especially when it comes to talking about MONEY. Remember, “money is the root of all evil; you get paid what you’re worth; you can’t afford it; never buy anything unless it’s on sale.”

Money is possibly the biggest head trash being carried around by salespeople.

Some salespeople sell through their own wallet: “Heck, I would never pay that much for my product.” Salespeople think that they have to discount and wrestle with prospects over price—that list price is just a benchmark and they have to sell for less than that amount. In fact, many practically break out in a cold sweat when it’s time to talk about money. How

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8 PASSES AND TICKETS ON SALE NOW! FACEBOOK: annapolisfilmfestival ★ TWITTER: @annapolisff

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THE 8 STEPS OF COMMERCIAL LEASING Location, location, location, is only part of the equation when it comes to finding the right space for your business WORDS BY SCOTT DOUGLAS

2. Locate suitable properties.

Once you have defined your requirements, you can start to locate suitable properties.

You can do this with an experienced broker or use several of the on-line commercial real estate multiple listing systems like Costar and Loopnet. I would recommend establishing 3 to 5 properties that meet your requirement.

3. Touring the property.

Now you will set up an inspection tour in groups of three to four properties at a time allocating thirty minutes for each one. By doing it this way you can more readily compare the feature and benefits of the properties while the impressions are still fresh in your mind. A camera and notepad will be helpful too.

4. Creating a proposal to lease.

Once you have narrowed your choices down to one to two properties, it is time to start creating

proposals, or non-binding letters of intent.

A letter of intent outlines the terms in which both parties would enter into a lease. The more defined your letter of intent is, the easier it will be to negotiate your lease.

5. Analysis of Responses to

Proposals.

After the landlords have responded to your initial proposals, it is time to analyze all the major points of the response. Though rental rates are important, there are other major economic deal points like rent abatement, tenant improvement allowances, expense pass throughs, escalations and personal guarantees.

Here is where a good broker can navigate you through your options explaining the pluses and minuses of each one.

6. Space Planning and

Architectural Evaluation.

Space planning usually occurs after the initial letter of intent has been submitted and or approved. Whether you need space planning services or not will depend on the size of your transaction and the need to customize your space. If there is to be construction, you will also need the services of a qualified architect to prepare the plans to submit for permits.

7. Lease Negotiations to Lease

Execution.

The negotiation of the lease is one of the most crucial steps in this process. It is impractical

and inadvisable to sign a lease contract without a review by qualified legal counsel.

8. Close the transaction.

Once your attorney has reviewed the lease and both parties have agreed upon the final lease terms, it is time for execution. At this point, you will also have to provide a security deposit and the first month’s rent. You can then start the move process in earnest.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Scott Douglas has helped companies analyze their business needs, advise an occupancy plan and then execute with precision, negotiating the best possible lease terms for over thirteen years, including 10 years with his own company. His focus is on your company’s success—lowering your real estate costs and risks while maximizing workplace flexibility and productivity.

Scott Douglas, Principal Broker of Douglas Commercial, LLC | 301-655-8253 sdouglas@douglascommercial.com

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There are a number of important questions to ask to accurately define your requirement. Doing this in advance will save you time and avoid starting in the wrong direction. Committing your requirements to paper will also help you as you visit properties to make sure nothing is overlooked. Some important questions are where do you want to be, what term lease do you want, what is your budget, how much space will you need, what are your expansion plans and what are your parking needs.

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1. Define your requirements.

WELCOME TO THE COLORFUL WORLD OF KAELI SMITH An imaginative, native-grown artist is on her way to becoming a national figure in fashion design.

WORDS BY JAMIE M. KIZER

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S

tunning. That’s the word that comes to mind in describing the creations of Kaeli Smith...and Kaeli Smith, herself. This stylish, sun-kissed blonde, would look completely at home in Palm Beach or La Jolla. She has, in fact, spent her life in Annapolis. Granted, in the summertime we can take on a sailing resort persona all our own—a vision that could only be enhanced by the Kaeli Smith Collection.

The oldest of four children—all of whom went to St. Mary’s—Kaeli has always been creative. By eighth grade she was already setting up shop at craft shows selling hand-painted wooden beads for necklaces.

She has created more than thirty original paintings which make full use of her love of color and vibrant design. Not surprisingly, Kaeli was an art major at University of Delaware (which she attended on an art and leadership scholarship). But what is surprising, is the fact that this established business woman just graduated from college in 2015.

While attending a Surtex conference in New York (the premier show for art licensing for designers, manufacturers and retailers), Kaeli became inspired to put some of her paintings and artwork on fabrics and introduce a clothing line with the help of a graphic designer. She sent those designs to Spoonflower, North Carolina, to transform into fabric. When she got the fabric back, a neighbor

sewed the design of Kaeli’s first dress. This was all while she was still in college.

By sophomore year she had decided to earnestly get into the fashion business and started production of her first line.

In the fall of 2014 (yes, before she had even graduated) a fashion buyer saw one of her dresses in a boutique in Hilton Head (a perfect fit for her creations which often display a respectful nod to a Lilly Pulitzer look). This serendipitous encounter led to a significant order from Dillard’s, a major department store chain in the South, Midwest, and West—the kind of connection most designers only dream of.

She has been having an amazing time since graduation. The inspirations for her latest Spring Collection come from such diverse origins as patterns found in China, to suggestions of garden party images.

For her Fall Collection, Kaeli is looking to focus on more boutiques and specialty stores. Her goal is to eventually create year-round collections, as well as develop a “lifestyle brand,” which will include items other than clothes (think pillows, curtains, bedspreads, etc.) She also has aspirations to expand into men’s fashion.

Her future is as bright as her designs—designs that Kaeli hopes will someday be instantly recognizable as Kaeli Smith’s.

Kaeli’s wise business advice includes “try to learn as much as you can from the people who have succeeded in your particular industry.”

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PHOTO CREDIT: JANNA ASHTON

Kaeli Smith’s designs can be purchased at various locations in the region, including The Cottage, and Blue Heron Bags.

PHOTO CREDIT: JANNA ASHTON

MEET KAREN SUTTER

She’s the very active president and founder of an interactive marketing and design firm: The Sutter Group WORDS BY JAMIE M. KIZER

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K

aren Sutter grew up in Prince George’s County, a place where she and her long-established company have thrived.

She has always enjoyed creativity, and has been enamored with design. That’s why she chose to attend the Corcoran College of Art and Design.

After raising her two sons, she worked at a graphic design firm for twelve years. Then, in 1987, the committed and gutsy forty-five-yearold started her own company, The Sutter Group.

“Over the nearly three decades we’ve been in business,” she explains, “Sutter Group has helped hundreds of companies and organizations craft identities, spread awareness, and engage with audiences in authentic, memorable, and sharable ways, using results-oriented marketing.”

Results do matter to Karen Sutter. She’s passionate about what she does and enjoys being in business. She delights in the fact that technology has changed so much, and well remembers the days of doing everything manually—even type-

setting. Nowadays, tech even allows her to work remotely if the mood strikes. It’s a real plus for companies to engage someone who can reference the before and after struggles of technology.

Karen Sutter is also passionate about the environment in general, and the Chesapeake Bay in particular. She sharpened her environmental instincts while working on several marketing campaigns including the Prince George’s County Office of Recycling. “When it comes to the Chesapeake and the environment,” Karen says, “We should sweat the small stuff—because it’s the small stuff that kills animals, the shore birds and the fish.”

For relaxation, Karen spends time on the Eastern Shore—she loves it there. She currently volunteers with the Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center and the Kent Island Beach Clean-up campaigns.

She’s also involved in many organizations, including serving on the board of the Chesapeake Regional Tech Council. Her commitment to women in business includes serving on the steering committee for Women Presidents’ Educational Organization (WPEO-DC).

In her work, Karen values great customer service above all else––which might well explain these five tenants of her business philosophy at The Sutter Group: We’ll be real. Expect us to be straight shooters who will tell you exactly what it’s going to take to connect with your audiences.

We’ll think like your target audience.

We’ll walk as many miles in their shoes as it takes to truly understand their wants and needs.

We’ll be thorough. We leave no stone unturned, and no question unanswered when working toward solving our client’s challenges.

We’ll adapt. There’s no client need nor marketing medium, device or tactic that we can’t work with. We do whatever it takes to produce results for our clients.

We’ll be your biggest brand stewards.

We’ll celebrate your brand like it was our own and take great pride in sharing it with the world.

F AP AN IR An R NU ST na IL AL po 6, lis 20 , M 16 D

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Issue #5 WOMEN

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19 BizPeakeJournal.com

Hosted by:

2016 WEC SPEA Kathleen is co-founder and CEO of Quintain, an Annapolis-based agency that helps clients succeed by improving the effectiveness of their marketing and sales; and, a co-founder of the Inbound Sales Academy. She loves nothing more than getting results for clients, whether that be more leads for a business, helping a client develop messaging and collateral that lands them a big new deal, or transforming a company’s website so that it tells their story and showcases what makes them special.

Kathleen is passionate about helping growing companies become leaders in their industry through digital marketing and sales enablement. An active member in the community, Kathleen serves on various nonprofit boards, and advocates on behalf of several causes, including public education.

Kathleen Booth: CEO & Co-Founder, Quintain Marketing With nearly 10 years’ experience developing peer-to-peer councils successfully, and prior to LX Council, Tina sold her Maryland franchise of The Alternative Board (TAB) in 2012. As the fastestgrowing franchise in TAB history, the franchise grew to include nearly fifty Maryland companies in two years, and to nearly eighty upon her exit, making her the largest single-owner peer board franchisee in the world. Additionally, Tina has more than twenty years of experience in senior executive positions at companies of all sizes. Tina is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Program for Management Development, and also has a B.S. from the University of Missouri.

Tina Corner: CEO & Founder LX Council When your head is full of ideas and you need clarity and focus for pitching to investors, business development & growth, messaging, and strategic direction, Sylvia is your ideation and implementation partner! Founder & CEO of the Idea Success Network, she works with entrepreneurs, business owners, and professionals, to get ideas out of their heads and into action for profit and purpose. Sylvia draws her expertise from her IBM and AOL talent development and management background; Vistage Chair, Leadership Montgomery, and National Speakers Association experiences; in addition to her own entrepreneurial success. She is the author of several books, host of a cable television program, and Lead Coach for the Piranha Tank investor pitch events in the Mid-Atlantic area.

Sylvia Henderson: Founder & CEO, Idea Success Network With more than twenty-three years of legal experience in the areas of estates and trusts, tax and corporate, Content has built a successful practice and a reputation for having a sharp, analytical mind, and a strong sense of judgment. In addition to her work with the McLaughlin Law Group, and volunteering her time as a member of various nonprofit boards, Content serves as Vice President and General Counsel for the Fallston Group, a Bel Air-based crisis management and communications firm. A cum laude graduate from the University of Baltimore, School of Law, Content also received her LL.M from the University of Baltimore’s Merrick School of Business and proudly served for five years in the U.S. Navy.

L. Content McLaughlin: CEO, McLaughlin Law Group Since joining Young & Company in 1998, Elaine’s mission has been to go above and beyond in seeking out the best options for creating, maintaining and protecting wealth. Prior to joining Young & Company, Elaine worked for a Fortune 500 company in the area of risk management and then later went on to become an Independent Financial Advisor. In addition to enjoying many water-related activities, Elaine is very involved in her community. Serving on the Board of Directors of the Rotary Club of Annapolis for six years (with one serving as President), Elaine remains active and currently serves on the board for the Anne Arundel Arts Council and The Y of the Greater Chesapeake.

Elaine Shanley: Partner, Young & Company, LLC

EAKER LINE-UP: Grounded in faith and driven by a passion for art and architectural design, Cathy has been honing her craft since early childhood. Painting lessons at age five were a mere precursor for her later studies at the Corcoran School of Art, University of Boulder Colorado, and University of Maryland. Since graduation with her architecture degree in 1989, Cathy has demonstrated time and again her innate ability to wed form and function. Through her guidance as Principal and founder, Purple Cherry Architects has grown into a leading luxury custom residential architecture firm serving the Eastern United States. A true embodiment of a “creative servant,” Cathy Purple Cherry is unfailing in her efforts to positively impact those around her.

Cathy Purple Cherry: Principal, Purple Cherry Architects An expert with two decades of consulting experience, Lise has created some of the industry’s most successful customer service improvement programs. Her philosophy is threaded through every CSE success story. A graduate of Temple University, Lise leveraged her foundation in marketing and communications into a career of management, training and human resources for corporations with renowned service cultures, including Xerox Corporation, Hilton Hotels and Saks Fifth Avenue. Intent on redefining the way corporations viewed service culture and its impact on revenues, she launched CSE in 1993. With a stronghold in the Airport Concessions arena, Lise has more than fifteen years’ experience in designing strategic airport specific concessions programs for improving customer service and top line revenue.

Lise D’Andrea: President & CEO, CSE, Inc. Susan’s background in art (founder of Shore Good Greetings, a greeting card company and New Leaf Turnings,LLC where she created wood sculptures for more than 10 years) coupled with her degrees (biology and psychology – undergraduate, and Neuroscience at Princeton Universitygraduate), set a solid foundation for her launch of SpiderWeb Connections®. A digital marketing agency which specializes in web design and development, graphic design, branding, social media, and content management. SpiderWeb Connections understands that the world of marketing in the internet age is rapidly changing. Susan and her team pride themselves on their project management systems, and seamless team communication.

Susan Schauer John: Founder, SpiderWeb Connections Since founding Radus Software in 2004, Rajashri has successfully led her company to becoming one of the premier providers of Governance and Business Intelligence solutions to both federal and commercial clients. Rajashri is a Certified Scrum Master, and has successfully managed and delivered a multi-million dollar project using this agile methodology for a federal agency. Scrum is the leading agile development methodology used by Fortune 500 companies around the world.

Rajashri is considered an innovative and energized leader and accomplished in championing organizational change, maximizing project efficiencies and optimizing the performance of teams.

A graduate of the University of Mysore, India, Rajashri earned a bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering.

Rajashri Sankavaram: CEO, Radus Software

Jen has over two decades of experience helping companies build awareness and brand preference in the marketplace. Before founding Red Thinking, Jen was president and cofounder of Hinge, where she led the charge for eight years in professional services strategic branding and marketing. She left the firm in 2010 to form Red Thinking, bringing her core staff of designers and project managers with her. Jen graduated from George Washington University where she received a BA in Visual Communications with a minor in Psychology. Jen is passionate about community service and serves on numerous nonprofit boards, including Let’s Help Kids, which was founded by her tween-aged daughter.

Jen Sterling: Chief Red Head & CEO, Red Thinking, LLC

WOMEN...AND FINE WINE Women have made lasting, and surprising, contributions to the wine world.

WORDS BY GEORGE OLIPHANT

W

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Issue #5 WOMEN

ine connoisseurs have long heard about the contributions that men have made to the world of fine wine.

Andre Tchelistcheff, Tony Soter and Steve

MacRostie come to mind.

But few know of the contributions of women to the fine wine industry.

Dom Perignon is a very famous name associated with the making of champagne. He was a Catholic priest who developed a way of controlling fermentation and thus making the beverage that we know today as champagne. But his champagne is not what we enjoy drinking today. The original champagne was very volatile, opaque in color and had a very unpleasant flavor.

Why? Because even though he learned how to create the “bubbly” part, he could not figure out how to get the yeasty particulate out of the bottle once the fermentation process had finished.

Fortuitously, one of the true innovators in the champagne business, Barbe Nicole Clicquot, married into a vineyard-owning family. Her husband died when she was 27. She wanted to get involved with the vineyard. It took some convincing, but eventually her father-in-law acquiesced. She was very business savvy, a bit feisty, and quite clever in marketing the product.

But she needed to solve the particulate problem left in the bottles. She came up with the idea of the “riddling rack.” This is a wooden rack with holes in it that can hold probably two dozen bottles at a time. It holds down the necks so that the fermented particulate settles right by the cork. The bottles are turned every 6 to 8 weeks, a one-quarter turn, until all the sediment is by the cork and the champagne becomes clear. At the right time the temporary cork is pulled out of the bottle, which removes the sediment.

At this point another stunning invention of Madame Clicquot was revealed. She came up with the idea of adding a small amount of still wine and sugar at the time of recorking to add an element of sweetness to the champagne.

This refinement gives us several options as far as sweetness. If you go to a wine shop you will see champagne bottles with varying degrees of sweetness such as Brut(dry), Extra Dry (a little sweeter than Brut), etc. You can thank Madame Clicquot for this innovation as well.

So the next time you are at a wedding or other event and you consume champagne, think about the hurdles a business women in the 1800s had to clear. Madame Clicquot proved that if you are innovative and persistent, you can have a dramatic impact.

Go to the major wine growing region of the United States. On highway 29, just south of the main Napa Valley town of St. Helena, you will find the Corison Winery.

I first met Cathy Corison as a wine importer/ wholesaler. She had come to Maryland to introduce our wholesale company to her wines. In the business of wine we see many vineyard owners.

Some are vineyard owners by virtue of inheritance; others get involved with wine because they were looking for something to do.

Cathy Corison is neither. She is truly a hard-working, creative and absolutely humble winemaker. She displays all the traits that Madam Clicquot did, only she does it better. Nobody gave her anything; she earned her place in the wine business.

When she first signed up for her wine-making classes in college, the professors told her, “You’ll never get a job in the Napa Valley; it’s a man’s world.”

Cathy did wind up with a job in the Valley, working as a winemaker for Chapellet Winery and many other properties. However, her goal had always been to have her own winery. She became a consulting winemaker, helping wineries

improve their wines. Slowly but surely she had acquired enough money to buy the highway 29 property she owns today.

The winery has a small vineyard called Kronos, of older Cabernet sauvignon vines. She has access to other vineyards to source fruit for her other wines. I refer to her products as “wines with panache”…subtle, elegant, and deliciously long on the palate.

Where does her creativity lie? She dryfarms her Kronos vineyard––meaning no drip irrigation––a true departure from the rest of the wine-growing world. She also farms organically, using virtually no chemicals. Cathy lets the fruit do the talking in her wines.

Corison wines are not cheap. That is, they seem pricey...until you taste them. Once you do, their sheer elegance, wonderful balance, and complexities will make the $70 to $125 per bottle price tag seem like a bargain.

Despite her success it is interesting to note that if you stop by the winery, you’ll find Cathy where she most likes being (aside from being with her family)…in the vineyards.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR George Oliphant is a former wine importer/ wholesaler. He helped to further the distribution of some of America’s (and Europe’s) best known vineyards.

His insights into the wine industry and personal connections with vineyard owners, viticulturists and winemakers will be discussed in future columns.

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Issue #5 WOMEN

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THEIR VOICES ARE HEARD The welcome sign is up for women-owned business in Annapolis WORDS BY JANICE F. BOOTH

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Issue #5 WOMEN

W

ork hard; adapt; seize opportunities when they arise…Oh, and did I say, ‘Work hard’?”

Lani Nguyen leaned across her desk, radiating confidence with her infectious smile. For more than 20 years, Nguyen has owned a prosperous Annapolis nail salon (Little Top Nails) while building a reputation as a residential Realtor with Caldwell Banker. Lani Nguyen has been and remains a shining example of a successful businesswoman.

Lani’s successes exemplify why Annapolis, Maryland, is recognized as one of the top-five locations in America for women entrepreneurs, based on a 2015 study commissioned by American Express OPEN. Rockville, Bowie, and Laurel, Maryland, also made it into the top 100 U.S. cities for women-owned businesses.

How does Annapolis’ business climate encourage women to start businesses?

And how does the city foster success among women-owned businesses? The report, compiled

by Womenable, an organization that “enables women’s entrepreneurship worldwide,” identified four factors as reliable indicators of communities where women entrepreneurs can flourish:

“We just have to put egos aside, sometimes just step back and give the young entrepreneurs some room.”

PROVIDE A NETWORK OF SUPPORT:

Research indicates that one of the most important elements for successful entrepreneurs is networking. For women, who are often stepping into the independent-business arena for the first time, the ability to seek and find advice and support from other small-business owners is critical. Fifteen percent of Annapolis’ businesses are considered small; such a high percentage creates a collegial climate where inexperienced businesswomen can seek and find advice from seasoned business owners.

Fifteen years ago, Claudia Hassan emigrated from Brazil, and by 2008 she was the proud owner of Cafe Olé coffee shop on West Street, one of Annapolis’s main arteries. Claudia, affectionately known as the mayor of Inner-West Street by her clientele, comes by the title honestly. She came to the U.S. with a degree in Education Management and four years’ experience as the mayor of Jose’da Penha, Brazil.

The mentoring she gained from Café Ole’s former

“Over 32 percent of the businesses in Annapolis are owned by women.”

CONNIE DEL SIGNORE

LORI EZELL

LAURA MECK

LONI NGUYEN CLAUDIA HASSAN

SUPPORT WOMEN-OWNED BUSINESSES: Over 32 percent of the businesses in Annapolis are owned by women. With successful women entrepreneurs as role models and mentors, women setting up their own businesses have a greater chance for success.

One of the primary missions for Connie Del Signore, President and CEO of the Annapolis & Anne Arundel County Conference & Visitors Bureau, is to “incubate new projects.” Among Del Signore’s fledglings are the Annapolis Film Festival, founded by Lee

SHOW HEALTHY, POSITIVE GROWTH IN GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (GDP): In 2014, Annapolis’ GDP rose 0.9 percent, reflecting a strong job market and low unemployment. These are among the positive indicators every entrepreneur looks for, and particularly women setting up their own businesses.

Laura Meck, founder and CEO of Venture Solutions, a public relations firm, has been recognized for her leadership and business success by Clutch, a research firm that identifies leaders in industry. Her advice to businesswomen, “Learn from your mistakes… listen to your clients and colleagues.” Every successful business leader needs those skills.

Laura’s colleague at Venture Solutions, Lori Ezell, describes Laura’s style as “nurturing.

She [Laura] has credibility, charisma.”

Women bring these and other unique talents to their business ventures, just as men do. Following a long tradition of women entrepreneurs that included Colonial Annapolitan, Anne Catharine Green, editor of the Maryland Gazette, from 1767-1775, Annapolis and Anne Arundel County have a history of providing a climate that supports and promotes women-owned businesses.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Janice F. Booth is the author of Crofton: Images of America and has written for local, regional and national publications including What’s Up? Publications, American Artist, the Wildlife Art Journal, BizPeake Journal, and Lancaster Farming. Janice is an adjunct professor of English and Communications at Anne Arundel Community College, Arnold, Maryland, and has been an educator for over 40 years. She has a Master of Arts Degree from Wayne State University.

Additionally, Ms. Booth is a partner in Booth, Shaberman & Associates, a consulting firm dealing with software products for attorneys.

She can be contacted by email at jfbooth@gmail.com or at 410-224-0930. Read her blog at www.open-line.org

Issue #5 WOMEN

ENCOURAGE AND SUPPORT THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN: Two-thirds of the women in Annapolis attain the same level of education as do the men. This parity suggests a respect for women and a climate that fosters entrepreneurship. Home to both the U.S. Naval Academy and St. John’s College, as well as its close proximity to a first class community college, affords Annapolis’ women the opportunity to continue their educations after high school, preparing themselves for businesses and professions.

Anderson and Patti White, and the Military Bowl, founded in 2006 as the Washington, D.C. Bowl Committee, by Marie Rudolph and Sean Metcalf.

“I love mentoring fledgling businesses and young women, trying to learn about them… learn from them. They [young women] are impatient people,” Connie observes, smiling.

“We just have to put egos aside, sometimes just step back and give the young entrepreneurs some room…The next generation is so different in their attitudes about roles; men and women are so equally involved [in business and family.]”

That’s the attitude and climate needed to build a healthy community of small businesses, research tells us, a climate particularly supportive of women-owned businesses.

25 BizPeakeJournal.com

owner and other local business people, gave Claudia the confidence to tackle business on her own and the wisdom to navigate the complexities of running that business. Her advice to women setting up their own businesses: “Stay open to opportunities, and treat everyone with respect.”

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Issue #5 WOMEN

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DIETARY GREENS: A PATH TO INCREASED PROFITABILITY Going green can be good for us—and our bottom line.

WORDS BY CHRISTINE HUNT

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Christine Hunt is the Owner of Hunt For Hope Wellness. www.huntforhopewellness.com

27 BizPeakeJournal.com

before eating. Partial to pasta? Combine greens with your sauces and add to pesto. You can even substitute potato and corn chips with kale chips.

When there isn’t time to prepare your own meal, and eating out is the only option, seek out healthier fast food alternatives like ethnic restaurants that offer wholesome choices that include more vegetables.

As a business owner you may want to provide healthy eating incentives to your employees. You could have a weekly green day when healthy lunches are provided at a reasonable cost. Look into installing vending machines that offer healthy meals and snacks. Provide educational workshops with a wellness coach or personal chef in which your employees can learn about nutrition and preparing healthier meals. Form a team of volunteers who can promote awareness of diet’s relationship to better health and spearhead the needed changes.

The advantages of healthy employees far outweigh the costs. Staff take fewer sick days, and they have increased energy and better mental acuity, which leads to more creativity and productivity.

Adding greens to your business keeps it in the black.

Issue #5 WOMEN

E

veryone is going green—from implementing recycling waste to solar and wind energy. Unfortunately, this trend is not reflected in our diets.

If anything, our diets are becoming more brown—with cereals and bagels for breakfast, pizzas and burgers for lunch, pasta and meats for dinner, and beverages like sodas and coffee. These dietary habits are a contributing factor to our nation’s declining health because brown foods don’t provide the valuable nutrients, antioxidants and fiber that our bodies need to be at the top of our game. Adding more greens to our diets can help boost energy levels, reduce sick days and, interestingly, make our businesses more profitable.

Currently, less than 5 percent of the average American’s diet is composed of leafy green vegetables. Studies have shown that one daily serving of green leafy vegetables can lower the risk of cardiovascular disease by 11 percent and is associated with a 9 percent lower risk of diabetes.

Leafy green vegetables are easy on the pocketbook since they are one of the least expensive sources of nutrients like folic acid, Vitamin C, potassium, calcium and magnesium. They are packed with antioxidants and help to alkalize the body’s pH, which in turn reduces inflammation, a condition found in almost all autoimmune diseases including diabetes and cancer.

These are some leafy greens that you can add to your diet: Lettuce, spinach, kale, Swiss chard, collards, turnip or mustard greens, cabbage, parsley, arugula and watercress.

The easiest way to incorporate them into your lifestyle is to make large salads a regular part of your meal plans. Make salads a hearty main meal by adding stir fried vegetables, rice, pasta, nuts or eggs.

For breakfast try adding spinach, kale or chard to your scrambled eggs in the morning, or sauté some greens and layer them between your toast and a fried egg for a breakfast sandwich. Blending greens into your morning smoothie, shake or juice will help to supercharge your day.

Greens can be added to most any meal. Replace tortilla wraps with large, blanched collard green leaves. If you like one-pot meals like stews, chilies and soups, add your choice of chopped greens. Do you make your own burgers? Add any leafy green to the mixture, and pile on the lettuce

THE FUTURE IS SEARCH Preparing for the future requires knowing what it will be.

28 BizPeakeJournal.com

Issue #5 WOMEN

WORDS BY SUSAN SCHAUER JOHN

T

he future for every organization, profit or nonprofit, B2B or B2C, will depend on how easily your business can be found on-line when someone is searching for what you offer.

In 2015, the number of Internet users worldwide topped 3.17 billion*. To find what they were looking for, the majority used Google Search over all other search options. There’s a reason why you don’t “Bing a topic,” or why, even though it came first, Yahoo was swiftly eclipsed by the Google juggernaut. Google works.

Google works because it is always improving. By continually updating their algorithms, Google continues to update its relevance. We study Google in order to best serve our website clients. The speed of Google is mind numbing. Therefore, for us to even attempt to keep up with all of Google’s changes, we need to know what the end game is. What is Google’s goal?

Ultimately Google’s goal is to give the user what they want—Reality. By making sure the right websites come up first in organic search results, Google accomplishes its goal of Reality. How Google accomplishes this will continue to change, but the goal of Reality will stay the same.

We have seen Google mature. Not long ago, Google ranked a website’s relevancy on how long the website existed and whether the URL name was synonymous with what the website said if offered. Although that is still important today, it is dramatically less so.

Later Google considered the prominent and repeated use of key terms and phrases in the website’s code to determine a website’s authority. This quickly led to the black hat practice of keyword-stuffing. (now banned).

Realizing there were problems, Google matured to use “popularity” as a measure of value and ranking. This, of course, failed at the larger task because popularity is not necessarily reality, and popularity, like keyword stuffing,

could be manipulated.

Google recently concentrated on the number of back links a website had. Back links are connections (incoming links) made to a website from another website or on-line source.

Having more of them was better. Google used the number of incoming links as a proxy for quality. Thus, pages that many other sites linked to were ranked higher in search.

This system has brought us the search engine we know today, but there are still problems. Websites that are full of misinformation can rise up in the rankings if enough people link to them. In addition, unscrupulous companies began to sell bogus “back links” to clients wanting to pay for a quick fix. Eventually, as with all other manipulations of Google’s intentions, this practice will no doubt get you banned from the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).

We can go on to talk about the algorithm changes…but the point is to know what Google’s Ultimate Goal is— REFLECT REALITY.

Knowing that goal makes it completely unsurprising that Google is now rumored to be building a storage room for all of humanity’s collective truths. Yeah. It’s called the Google Knowledge Vault. With it, Google will be able to rank websites based on facts not just links or keywords. The team at Google will then be able to measure the trustworthiness of a page rather than its reputation across the web. Instead of counting incoming links, the system (which is not yet live) will count the number of “incorrect facts” within a page**. A source that has the fewest false “facts” will be considered trustworthy. The score that will be computed for each web page will be called a “Knowledge-Based Trust Score.”

Google’s software will work by tapping into the Google Knowledge Vault. This so-called vault will be the vast store of facts that Google has pulled from the Internet. These facts will be information that the web unanimously agrees on as reasonable proxy for truth.

So what does all this mean? It means that every website needs to concentrate on representing itself properly, clearly and factually. Rich, relevant content will become extremely valuable,

and truth will be judged ruthlessly.

Got to love Google.

The future is search. And the future of search will be REALITY. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Susan Schauer John, is the Head Honcho of SpiderWeb Connections®. SpiderWeb Connections is a full service Internet Marketing Firm specializing in Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Call for a free consultation: 443-595-SPIN (7746) or email: info@spiderwebconnections.com. *Statista.com **arxiv.org/abs/1502.03519v1

is

Search

HEATING

Issue #5 WOMEN

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Issue #5 WOMEN

A FUTURE IN FOCUS

A well-traveled photographer, Janna Ashton, sits down for a Q&A and shares how she found a home for herself and her family in Maryland.

WORDS BY JAMIE M. KIZER

Jamie Kizer: Where did you grow up, and

that I set the rules, the pace and the image of what I am and what I offer.

photography?

JA: I have always had a passion for learning when it comes to photography, and that started for me in high school, where I was the photographer for our school newspaper. I moved from Pennsylvania in 2000 to Colorado to attend formal schooling at the Art Institute of Colorado in Denver. I most recently went back to school four years ago to complete my Bachelors of Applied Science in Business Management through Campbell University. That degree greatly helped me in gaining focus for the actual business of what I do.

JK:: Did you always know that you wanted to build a business around photography? Did you always know that you’d be an entrepreneur/or did you always want to be one?

JA: I never knew or understood what it meant to be an entrepreneur until recently. I only knew where my heart and passion were—and that was with my art and photography. I come from a family of artists (painters, graphic artists, etc), so growing up I was immersed in this creative environment and just had this sense of always imagining and creating. The things I must focus on and do as a business oftentimes interest me just as much as creating, so in that regard, I feel it has helped push me to evolve and grow and in turn get noticed.

JK: What do you enjoy most about having your own business and enjoy the least. Greatest challenge?

JA: More than anything, I enjoy my freedom! Although it is true that you will never work harder for anybody than you do for yourself. I really like

JK: In terms of work / life balance do you have it and is it a priority?

JA: I do have it, and it gets better each year. My family always comes first because without them I am nothing. My husband is so supportive and my biggest cheerleader. He has picked me up so many times when I have fallen and been a driving force at those times when I want to give up. My kids are now two and four, and I am no longer in school or the air force, so these days balancing work and family is a breeze compared to four years ago. I feel like my military background has helped a great deal in my handling “pressure under fire.”

JK: What are some of your other interests/volunteer work?

JA: I think it is important to be involved where you live. I am excited about pursuing membership in the Annapolis Rotary Club as well as the local Chamber. Most recently I have volunteered myself as a photographer for the Annapolis Film Festival. And the past few weeks I have donated my products and services to several black tie events benefiting leukemia and Seeds 4 Success. It makes me so happy to help such wonderful causes.

JK: What is the goal/vision for your business?

JA: My goal for Janna Ashton Portraits is to grow and expand. I would love to bring my business and studio to a level where I can have multiple employees. I think it would be amazing to have other associate photographers to help in image creation and handling of the workload as well as specific individuals to run operations such as marketing, IT, and accounting.

Issue #5 WOMEN

JK: Where did you study, and did you study

My greatest challenge as a business has been growing and expanding on limited capital over the last four years. I have built everything from the ground up and out of my own pocket—no loans or funding from outside sources—and I have done a good job considering I have had to move and reopen my business in 3 different states.

31 BizPeakeJournal.com

Janna Ashton: I grew up in southwestern Pennsylvania just outside a small town called Latrobe. I am a military spouse and a veteran. My husband and I have moved around quite frequently over the last few years—we were sent here most recently from western Florida last summer. We were determined to move to this area because we liked it so much. Annapolis has so much to offer both our family and my business.

PHOTO CREDIT: JANNA ASHTON

what brought you to Annapolis? How long have you been here?

Save The Date!

Annapolis Rotaract Club invites you to our fifth annual benefit

Rock The Dock Thursday, June 9, 2016 Annapolis Maritime Museum 6:00 PM - 10:00 PM

Ticket Tiers

Through April 9th Early Bird: $45 April 10th to June 9th General Admission: $55 At the Door: $60 On June 9th Tickets available online http://bit.ly/1RMEU2u

32 BizPeakeJournal.com

Issue #5 WOMEN

For information about sponsoring, please contact rotaractservice@gmail.com

Rock The Dock 2016 proceeds proudly benefit

HOW TO GET YOUR BUSINESS BRAND RIGHT: Know yourself, know your business.

. Know yourself. Know your why. People buy your passion, your conviction about what you’re doing, not your widgets.

To know the essence of your brand, start by answering these questions: What do you stand for? Why do you do what you do? What do you promise your customers? What do you want your customers to be after you’ve worked with them?

When you know your why, you’ll have found the fuel that keeps you going when the going gets rough. Knowing your brand gives you a handhold to recover from setbacks.

. Be able to describe what you do and how it benefits people in one sentence.

If you can’t describe what you do, and the benefit of your offering in a short, declarative sentence, no one is your customer. When you know what your brand stands for, the words you use to describe it will show up organically, and they’ll be simple, clear and powerful. When you know your brand, it lives in your molecules.

Defining your brand means connecting with your purpose and when you know that, it’s the only thing you want to be doing all the time.

“Yay” for you, and double “yay” for those of us who need what you’re really selling.

Start by doing the right steps in the right order and the reward you get is a business that satisfies you and attracts the clients, members, customers and playmates you want to work with.

Step #3

. Know—and live—your superpower. We’re taught to be shy about talking about how fabulous we are, but it’s just plain good business sense to be able to know what separates you from the pack AND say so out loud. Here’s a clue: It’s the thing you naturally do well, whether you’re working the assembly line or driving a rocket.

Step #4

. Get everybody on the same page. When everyone on your team really gets the essence of your brand’s mantra, they feel empowered and your message gets sent loud and clear. Ask your people. Pay attention to their answers. Confusion about this is not your friend.

Step #5

. Do the thing. When you have the clarity you need to guide you and the words that tell the world what you do and what makes you so special, you’re now obligated to live your superpower. Here’s a secret: You won’t be able to stop yourself.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Maggy Sterner is a brand coach and chief instigator for your brand revelations.

She helps small businesses define their brand, discover their superpower, and get on track to do the thing. Why? Because she’s committed to you having the business you want and not the one you don’t.

Issue #5 WOMEN

Step #1

Step #2

33 BizPeakeJournal.com

W

hen you hear the word “brand,” what comes to mind?

You you think, “The logo?” Here’s a True Fact: Your brand is really who you are, what you stand for, what you promise, and what makes you special. Oh, and you have to be able to articulate it simply and clearly.

Your reward for defining your brand, doing the right steps in the right order, means your path to creating a successful business is clear: you’ll have a compass setting to reorient you when you get lost; you’ll attract the clients you want, and they’ll pay you money.

That’s what you want, right?

WORDS BY MAGGY STERNER

THE BUSINESS OF GOLF We handicap the future of golf WORDS BY SARAH HAGERTY

34 BizPeakeJournal.com

Issue #5 WOMEN

G

olf is a thinking man’s game.

More nuance than brute strength. A round of golf is full of frequent calculations and reassessments. Well-considered use of the tools of the trade plays an important part. Your constant concentration is critical. All of this might explain the popularity of the game of golf with a certain successful segment of the population.

If thoroughbred horse racing is the sport of kings, golf is definitely the sport of presidents.

Our chief executives have been heading up foursomes for about as long as golf has been popular in our country. According to Golf Digest, 15 of the last 18 presidents have been fans—starting with William Howard Taft.

Who could forget that famous photo take at the 1995 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic in Indian Wells, CA when Presidents Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton teed off together.

(Coincidentally, all three were left-handed, but didn’t use left-handed clubs.)

And if you were wondering if golf has lost some of its appeal, look no further than any Barack Obama vacation coverage—you can count on seeing photos of him on the links in Hawaii or Palm Springs. (Mr. Obama, by the way, is another southpaw.)

And let’s not forget that Anne Arundel County’s first public golf course (Eisenhower Golf Course), opened 35 years ago, is named after perhaps the game’s most devoted commander and chief, Dwight D. Eisenhower.

These ultimate “executives” know that a game of golf can banish some major stresses in life. They also know that the golf course is a perfect place to conduct business and get deals done. Wooing a client/head of state/future prospect becomes an easier task when you have the advantage of conducting a four or five hour, captive-audience sales call. Golf is also a universal language—a critical component in our global enterprise zone.

China, for instance, is the fastest growing golf market in the world—so much so that the PGA has inaugurated a PGA China Tour.

According to Forbes magazine, the industry is healthy in the U.S. as well. The number of golf facilities have grown from 12,846 in 1990 to 15,516 in 2013—an especially impressive stat considering the value of well-located land in this day and age. However, according to that same article in Forbes, the number of

rounds per year is down somewhat—from 518.4 million in 2000 to 465.5 million in 2013. But that is still a whole lot of tee times. Many of them in our area.

From Walden Country Club in Crofton to Chartwell Golf & Country Club in Severna Park to Talbot Country Club Golf Course in Easton to Queenstown Harbor Golf Course in Queenstown, our area offers a wide selection of both public and private courses right next door or an easy ride away.

Potomac Ridge Golf Course in Waldorf, for instance, is a well-respected 27-hole public course with membership options. General Manager Mike Harvey, PGA, is personally confident in the future of golf.

“The business has been pretty steady,” Harvey informs us. He admits that the economy over the past few years has taken a toll on golf.

“They do play a little less—instead of Saturday and Sunday, it’s just one day on a weekend now. But there are always peaks and valleys. It will come back up again.”

Harvey thinks it is a good sign that area high schools still maintain golf teams and applauds the public courses that open up for team practic-

“If you watch a game, it’s fun. If you play at it, it’s recreation. If you work at it, it’s golf.”

– Bob Hope

es. He also thinks that younger players will discover the joys of golf once their careers progress to a certain level. At that time they will have TALBOT the money to play golf, as well as the need for the social and business advantages offered by the game.

Tom Kirby, co-owner of Duke’s Golf, a retailing institution in Annapolis for more than 20 years, chalks up the slight downturn in golf’s popularity to two things—time and money. “Golf does take a little bit of time,” Kirby says. “For a generation used to immediate gratification, younger players may not have the patience.” Or the money for costly greens fees. The industry, however, is trying to make adjustments for those millennials, a.k.a. potential golfers.

Kirby tells us the availability to play six-hole matches (rather than 18 or even 9) is being studied. Some disrespectful factions are even considering enlarging the size of the cup— reflecting the fact that the challenges of putting can cause the toughest golfers to crumble. But that sort of change might stick in the craw of veteran players. A generation who got trophies for just showing up, they reason, can’t be expected to master the more demanding aspects of the game of golf, so let’s level the playing field.

And there is one even weirder attract-younger-people-innovation out there starting to crop up on the West Coast—Foot Golf. Yes, you read that correctly. Unused and underused golf courses are being converted so people can play a sort of soccer on the course. The holes, of course, will be much larger. And players will kick the ball around during a round of foot golf.

Wonder what Arnold Palmer thinks of this? At least they will get exercise in the fresh air. But it ain’t exactly St. Andrews, is it?

Golf is a sport of traditions, perhaps more so than any other. And there are good people out there who are working hard and creatively to honor and continue that tradition.

TALBOT

What other people may find in poetry or art museums, I find in the flight of a good drive.

– Arnold Palmer

WALDEN

Issue #5 WOMEN

CHARTWELL

35 BizPeakeJournal.com

TALBOT

CHARTWELL

“Mistakes are part of the game. It’s how well you recover from them, that’s the mark of a great player.”

– Alice Cooper

SEMPER GUMBY! Always Flexible (with apologies to Latin scholars everywhere)

I

’ve got the world’s best job. I help clients launch their lives to the next level. I’m particularly adept at getting leaders back up and moving on their path after a knockdown. Setbacks and change happen to everyone. Planning and acting strategically is an important tool to getting them back on track and moving to what they want in their lives. Let’s take a quick tour of how to use strategic planning to get back on target.

Strategic planning sounds daunting. It doesn’t have to be. It’s a relatively simple process that involves: • examining where you are and how you got there, • hypothesizing about what the future might look like, • deciding what you really want, finding the path to get there, and • determining how your choices will impact you and those around you.

Run the above through your personal values filter and you’re in business. Values matter; people living in tune with their values are happier and more successful.

Although it’s not rocket science, outside help from friends, colleagues or a coach to help fill in the details and guide the process is often times useful. Advisers provide an outside, unbiased perspective and additional information that you can’t get on your own—whether you’re an individual or an organization. This is an intimate process, so make sure that you enlist people that you trust.

A couple of tips to help the process: • Keep it Simple Stupid—No more than three strategic objectives that are resonant and thrilling: The objectives need to be something you want—resonance with your values and excitement with getting them done greatly

increases the odds that you’ll get there. Note that strategic objectives are overarching plans about changing course and direction. There are multiple tasks necessary in getting them accomplished.

• Get out of the box: Brainstorm—There are no bad ideas. Push the limits of possibility, especially when talking about the future. Exploring the things you’d never do to accomplish your goals often yields ideas you wouldn’t have considered otherwise. An outside set of eyes or a facilitator help. Be diverse and inclusive when picking the team.

• Paint the fence and the Sistine Chapel. In other words—remember to continue to do day-to-day things while at the same time doing the fun and sexy high level and new stuff. I like to use the analogy of Tom Sawyer whitewashing the fence and Michelangelo creating the beautiful art of the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Keep in mind that they both had help.

• Agenda: Have one for the planning process. Agendas keep you on track. And a written plan to attain your strategic objectives is a best practice.

• Your plan should inform your daily activities; your daily activities should support the plan. If they don’t, one or the other need to change.

That last item is important. It is easy to become seduced by “The Plan.” Life goes squirrelly; things happen. We change and so does the world we live in.

Health issues, death of a loved one, clients departing, an economic down turn, and my all-time favorite, technology change (how many typewriter repairman are still employed) are all examples of negative things that can change where we stand. Good things can sometimes be equally disruptive: new relationships, an addition to the family, a new client who triples demand, and technology change (what would we do without PC’s, tablets and cell phones?) exemplify these changes. Stay flexible and

37 BizPeakeJournal.com

Acting Strategically in Change and Chaos

Issue #5 WOMEN

WORDS BY MARK THORN

!

WHY YOU SHOULD ADVERTISE WITH BIZPEAKE JOURNAL

1. BizPeake Journal (BPJ) is the ONLY print and digital B2B Magazine with controlled distribution throughout Anne Arundel, Calvert, Dorchester, Howard, Kent, Montgomery, Prince George’s, Queen Anne’s and Talbot counties.

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with tons of personalized added value, such as social media postings and business referrals, at no additional charge.

38 BizPeakeJournal.com

Issue #5 WOMEN

adapt—Semper Gumby (Always Flexible) is a good motto to live by. Change will come, be ready to roll with it.

Life changed, “The Plan” became outdated—What do you do now? First and foremost, you want to identify that change has happened. Find out what has changed and how much that change impacts what you want. You likely don’t want to stay in the typewriter repair business when everyone has their own PC and printer. Go back to the planning process and reassess.

You’re not starting completely over: where you are/how you got here, and a look at the future need updating only with the new information. You should re-examine what you want and how to get there. A revised path will develop once you’ve looked at the new situation.

Keep the old plan handy. Circumstances may change back and things in the old plan may still be useful. PCs could all become infected with a massive virus and we’ll go back to typewriters...not likely, but you never know. For a non-catastrophic issue (e.g., a health disruption), you may be putting the plan on temporary hold; resuming the original plan, perhaps with minor tweaks, may be the course to take.

Life is change. Identify change when it happens. Stay flexible and drive the plan to meet your needs. Don’t let your plan drive you. Semper Gumby!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Mark Thorn is an Executive and Leadership Coach.

301-717-1185

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advertisers. If you’re looking to reach business owners directly, BPJ can provide the EXPOSURE and RESULTS that you need.

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