Celebrating women business owners around the world | MARCH 2013
COVER STORY
Dr. Marina Kostina
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editor’s note
Celebrating the success of women entrepreneurs As the editor of a woman’s entrepreneurial magazine I’ve heard, seen and read much about gender inequality in business. Are women themselves to blame for their inequality? Is inequality a byproduct of sociological and/or psychological factors? Do we use our gender as a crutch and reinforce the necessity of women’s ‘programs’ to help us succeed? Are there inherent flaws in the business world that prevent us from seeking out leadership or entrepreneurial roles?
The subject of inequality has been amplified recently with the interesting insight of author and successful business woman, Sheryl Sandberg in her book, Lean In. With chapter titles like, ‘The Leadership Ambition Gap: What Would You Do If You Weren’t Afraid?’ and ‘The Myth of Doing It All,’ Sandberg asks as many questions as she attempts to answer. And her book seems to be either, enthusiastically applauded or just as enthusiastically criticized by readers I’ve encountered in various online discussion groups. Those entrenched in the subject of inequality are usually resolute about the ‘why.’ But I don’t think it matters as much ‘why.’ What matters is that we’ve started to really talk about it again, because if we don’t, history will continue to repeat itself. In this issue we’ve highlighted a couple stories that speak to inequality, ‘How Female Leaders Should Handle Double-Standards’ and ‘How to Break Out of the Female Entrepreneur Trap.’ Enjoy! Connect – Engage – Prosper
Christine L. Dubyts
About Dubyts Communications Inc. Dubyts Communications, established in 1999, exists to help businesses stay in business, grow and prosper by providing marketing and communications services including website design, print marketing, branding, magazine production and training services. Our people offer a depth and diversity of experience so we can deliver unique and effective solutions that get noticed, but better yet, get results! Our passion is for the extraordinary and everyone on our team works to those standards. A special thank you to Sherrine Lounsbury who once again brought the magazine to life with her creative flair and dedication to excellence.
MARCH 2013 EZINE Editor:
Christine Dubyts
Graphic Design: Sherrine Lounsbury
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Contributing
Writers Julie Cottineau Brand Twist | brandtwist.com Julie Cottineau, founder of the brand consultancy BrandTwist, has been an executive at Interbrand and VP of Brand for Virgin, and regularly posts free, actionable branding advice like this on the BrandTwist blog and newsletter. To learn even more about brand building, check out her new 8-week online course, Brand School, that gives you all the knowledge and hands-on exercises you’ll need to build a profitable brand.
Shawn Byler Intentional Influence | intentionalinfluence.com Dr. Byler is the founder of Intentional Influence, established in October, 1999. Her work as an entrepreneur, company leader, author, speaker, program and product developer and business coach has resulted in her national recognition as an expert in personal and professional development.
Julie Starr Possibility Life Coaching for Women | possibilitycoaching.net Julie trained professionally as a dance therapist earning a four-year BFA degree from York University in Toronto. While working in schools and hospitals, she became aware of the need for positive change. Julie became a social issues advocate for human rights and environmental protection. As an award-winning activist, she learned how to make things happen. She now backs up women to make good things happen in their lives and ultimately good things happen for the world!
Christine Dubyts Dubyts Communications Inc. | dubytscom.com Christine Dubyts is an honors graduate from the University of Manitoba faculty of Commerce, Marketing Major. She started Dubyts Communications Inc. in 1999 to offer integrated marketing services including, consulting, graphic design, web design and new media marketing. Christine ventured into publishing in 2011 with the print and ezine, Women Business Owners Today.
Herminia Ibarra Insead | insead.edu Herminia Ibarra is a professor of organizational behavior and the Cora Chaired Professor of Leadership and Learning at Insead. She is the author of Working Identity: Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing Your Career (Harvard Business Review Press, 2003).
Nicola Cook Aurora Consulting | nicolacook.com Nicola Cook is an award winning entrepreneur and twice published international best-selling author on professional selling and personal & business growth. She is the Founder of Aurora Consulting and a Director of Lara Morgan’s Company Shortcuts, two businesses that are devoted to improving business results by injecting skill, passion and strategy to help those entrepreneurs and sales enthusiasts achieve the results they desire.
Dr. Shelley Prevost Lamp Post Group | lamppostgroup.com Dr. Shelley Prevost is a co-founder of Lamp Post Group, a venture incubator in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She curates kick-ass cultures by infusing principles of positive psychology in her role as Director of Happiness.
If you would like to write or advertise in future editions of the Women Business Owners Today EZine, please contact us at info@womenbusinessownerstoday.com.
How Branding is like
online dating By: Julie Cottineau, Brand Twist
Branding is described in a lot of different ways— telling a story, promising an experience, or providing reassurance of quality and consistency. But here’s one way you may not have thought about it….branding is like online dating. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Picture this. You’re sitting across the table from David. David’s an entrepreneur, a self-proclaimed pioneer of innovation. He’s working at a new company that just got out of beta, the website’s live, the brand’s growing. He’s whispering sweet nothings into your ear. Promising to fulfill your wildest fantasies. And you’re falling for it. Now halfway through your second cosmopolitan you start to notice some cracks in David’s story. He’s mixing up where he went to college, he calls you by a name that’s not quite yours (Lisa - Leslieclose enough for David). That charming southern drawl seems to have faded as the empties pile up on the table. Mr. Right starts to transform into Mr. “Please get the check so I can get home into my pajamas and watch Downton Abbey.” The experience is not what you were expecting. Definitely not what you were led to believe from pre-date online flirting and courting. We all know the expectation you have when going on a date with someone you met online.
You expect the person to look like their picture, hold the profession listed in their bio and have the ability to carry a conversation as eloquently as they do through messages shared over the Internet. If they can’t, well…that’s a prime example of all sizzle and no steak. It’s a real turn off in dating…and in branding. You might not have experienced this specific online dating problem, but truth is, if you’ve ever relied on a brand to deliver you a product in a 3-5 day span and it didn’t, or sent a tweet to a business you didn’t hear back from, or walked into a store and weren’t greeted, you’ve been a victim of a brand not delivering on its promise. You probably have your list of dating deal-breakers (must be a non-smoker, love his mother, be taller than you when you wear your killer Jimmy Choo’s). And customers have their own sets of deal-breakers too. They may be intrigued by a pretty picture or a tempting promise, but if a brand doesn’t deliver on its brand promise—on the first try—they won’t usually become a return customer. Customers are not loyal to companies that don’t provide the promised services. Just like you shouldn’t continue dating someone who didn’t deliver on the first date.
SO HOW DO YOU AVOID BAD BRANDING THAT’S LIKE A BAD DATE? If you are building a business and a brand, the most important thing is to deliver on your promises. For example, if you are a food business, don’t launch with 35 flavors. Pick 5 that you know you can knock out of the park—every time. If you are a service brand that promises to make your clients’ lives easier, don’t undermine this with a complicated registration process, such as asking for information you don’t really need and aren’t going to act on. Offer flexible payment plans and send friendly reminders when it’s time to renew. Make sure your brand promise is felt—not just told—in every single interaction.
A Doctor with
Patience By: Christine Dubyts, Dubyts Communications Inc.
In our modern society where we’re pressured by new technologies, economic crises and a money-driven society to produce, produce, produce, Dr. Marina Kostina has extraordinary patience. Patience derived from her passion to live her life on purpose. The good doctor was born in Moscow, built roads in Iowa, waited tables in Italy and today inspires coaches, teachers and trainers around the world. Yes, good things definitely come to those who wait... AND to those who know what they want in life. Dr. Kostina received her PhD in Teaching and Learning/ Distance Learning. She launched Wired@Heart to help coaches, consultants, and small business owners in service-based industries package their expertise and create engaging online programs and products that attract ideal clients, increase completion rates, and produce great results.
Everything I do is backed up by psychological research and distance-learning best practices.
But for Kostina, it’s not just about packing something up and selling it. The key ingredient is building connections and engagement in cyberspace. Building these two things is a skill that can and must be trained. “True engagement online happens as a result of careful planning and execution of specific strategies. I help small business owners master these strategies and weave them into their online programs and products,” says Dr. Kostina. “Everything I do is backed up by psychological research and distance-learning best practices.
The idea came from my
doctorate dissertation where I studied perceptions of students in
online classrooms. I learned that being connected and engaged was one of the most important factors for students’ satisfaction in this context. I started learning about this idea in different settings and realized the reasons many online programs (both educational and business) fail is because of the isolation that students and clients experience in this environment. Therefore, my company helps both educational organizations and businesses to gain strategies that transcend distances.”
Dr. Kostina agrees that running a business is a tough task whether you’re a man or a woman, requiring self-discipline, self-motivation, strong will, confidence, flexibility and the ability to admit mistakes. Where gender comes into play she had some great insight and stated, “As women, society expects you to play a certain role, a more submissive and less assertive one. It also demands you to be a ‘good girl’ and not verbalize your opinion in order to avoid conflicts, sacrifice self in order to be a good mother, wife, or daughter, and
Women by nature are awakeners and initiators. We are the driving force of this world. Don’t forget and don’t be afraid of your visionary power.
Kostina believes in the near future the majority of training and business interactions will be conducted online. To be successful we need to understand the unique psychology of interactions at a distance and the peculiarities of human attention online. She says we need to adapt new strategies that help attract attention, boost connection, and engage our customers in this context. Wired@Heart is based on the idea of building relationships. All relationships, including the relationship with self, are based on attention, presence and love. Kostina meditates, practices yoga daily and turns off all technology at 7pm. She also spends time travelling, cooking and learning; all things that help her get out of her head and into her body and spirit. “Unifying the three allows me to create a wholesome experience of life.”
so on. Thus, many women grow resentful, put their desires on the back burner and abandon their dreams.” She continued, “Those who are brave enough to express their feelings and go for what they want in life often fall into the other extreme while climbing the career ladder and forget their feminine side in order to
survive while
competing with their male counterparts.” Her solution is to constantly balance the male and female energies and to harmonize our active and assertive male side with the nurturing and receptive feminine side. “This means that you must manage your time according to what makes you happy, and know when to act ‘as a guy’ and when to have your ‘girly time.’ You also need to draw boundaries, practice saying no (especially
to your closest people), practice balancing
you will take several steps back. Appreciate
‘doing’ with ‘being’, and build in time for self-
this rhythm. Successful business is not about
reflection, self-healing, and self-nurturing. We
reaching a certain goal and then being happy. It is
need to remember that giving to ourselves is not
about enjoying every step along the way. (This is
a selfish act, but the biggest gift we can bring to
a good advice for myself and my inner critic too!)”
this world, as we cannot give what we do not ha ve. If we are exhausted and depleted we cannot provide great service to anyone in our personal and professional lives.”
Through persistence, passion and patience, Dr. Kostina has found her two great passions in life - her dancing and her business. The two are interwoven. She says she feels like a true “dakini,”
Her advice for fempreneurs: “Don’t be afraid of
which in Tibetan form means “a woman who
your femininity and of expressing it fully, with no
dances in space”. In her case, Dr. Marina Kostina
hesitation. Your strength is in your ability to bring
is a woman who dances in cyberspace!
the fragmentation of modern life and modern relationships into a unified and interconnected whole. Women by nature are awakeners and initiators. We are the driving force of this world. Don’t forget and don’t be afraid of your visionary power. In addition, women are rarely satisfied with what we have, often criticizing ourselves. We constantly demand perfection. See your business as a beautiful and fun dance. Sometimes you will take a few steps forward and sometimes
Through persistence, passion and patience, Dr. Kostina has found her two great passions in life - her dancing and her business. The two are interwoven. She says she feels like a true “dakini,” which in Tibetan form means “a woman who dances in space”. In her case, Dr. Marina Kostina is a woman who dances in cyberspace! For more information please visit www.wired@heart.com
SUCCESSFUL
BUSINESS Vision Boards & Mentors
Interview with Dr. Marina Kostina of Wired@Heart
1
2
Do you have a vision board? Absolutely! I believe in vision boards, in verbalizing and visualizing the results that you are seeking. As a former linguist and a neuroscience fan, I know that what we think about correlates with our actions, and thus becomes our reality. My board contains images of a happy family, friends, a beautiful and healthy body, exotic countries, love and connection, the logo of Wired@Heart as a reminder to always live and conduct business from my core, and a check for $100,000,000 written to me! I regularly change my pictures as I accomplish my goals. For instance, while I was co-authoring my book, my vision board had an image of a bestseller‌ once we accomplished this goal, I changed the image to my next pursuit.
Do you have a mentor? who has helped inspire and/or motivate you? As a former teacher myself, I truly believe in mentorship. I could not be where I am now without my branding mentor, Julie Cottineau, the former VP of Brand Virgin and the current CEO and Founder of Brand Twist. She helped me express my vision in a concrete and clear way, and to develop my brand. Julie is my go-to person: when I need to make a business decision or just want a pep talk I go to her! I am also blessed to have Cindy Schulson as my business mentor. She keeps me on my toes. By nature I am a very creative and passionate being. I get excited about new things and can be easily distracted. Cindy helps me prioritize and strategize, ensuring that my deepest dreams have a
step-by-step execution plan so they can become my reality. I love our complementary personalities and I feel very organized and productive when I work with Cindy. Helena Prana is my spiritual mentor. Whenever I feel out of sync, I go to this amazing fountain of joy, unconditional love and peace. She is my guardian angel and my reminder of my better self. Christine Dubyts and WBOT are my community mentors. I think that it is very important to have a network of like-minded individuals that share your challenges and your joys. WBOT helps me recharge when I feel confused or not confident (yes, that DOES happen to me still!) I think that all of us get down or insecure once in a while, yet successful people are not those who do not have these feelings, but those who know how not to let these feelings paralyze them and continue moving towards their goals.
online learning our online portal features ebooks & courses great for EVERY woman business owner w w w . W o m e n B u s i n e s s O w n e r s To d a y . c o m Brand School By Brand Twist Are you a woman who wants to light a fire under your brand and grow your business? Hint: don’t say ‘no’. Brand School is an 8-session branding course developed by Julie Cottineau, branding expert and the former VP of Brand at Virgin. Your business deserves a boost. Stand out in your market. Attract more profitable customers. Start with Brand School.
Make the Money You Want: 3 Steps to Attract 3 New Clients in 30-Days It’s great to have ideas but too many ideas get overwhelming really fast. Learn which ideas to focus on, and how to follow through on them, so that you make the money you deserve.
The Top Ten Small Business Marketing Mistakes Are you making any of The Top Ten Small Business Marketing Mistakes? How much is making any of these mistakes costing you? Rob Calhoun’s report tells you what those mistakes are and gives you action steps to correct them. And despite everyone telling him he’s nuts for just giving this report away for FREE, it’s still available. Get it Now!
The Naked Networker Networking. You know it’s important. You know you need to do it. You just don’t know how to do it. That’s where Sarah Lochead-MacMillan’s book “The Naked Networker – A Professional Woman’s Networking Toolkit” comes in. Don’t worry - you can keep more than just your hat on.
The 9 Biggest Sales Mistakes The 9 Biggest Sales Mistakes identifies those key mistakes that are stopping sales teams, companies and business owners fulfilling their sales potential. The report establishes how to identify these errors, indicates how they can be eliminated - and sets out how to avoid them.
Pinterest for Businesses and Brands Teleseminar MP3 Recording: We’ll dive immediately into explanations and examples of how businesses and brands are leveraging Pinterest, the latest social network getting a lot of attention.
MULTIPLY YOUR IMPACT & INCOME You will learn how to follow a 3-step system for creating an online program so you can earn more leveraged income while keeping the connection, and engagement with your clients strong so they can have great results.
Self Confidence Training
7 Tips for How to Grow Your Business
Self Confidence in a SNAP is a one hour course. It includes 10 Learning Points intended to help you better understand what Confidence is, and how to increase your Self Confidence.
Common sense is often forgotten in business when you are experiencing overwhelm and the need to make money and manage staff. 7 tips you can apply now to make that fiscal difference!
Upload a course suitable for women business owners. Contact us at info@womenbusinessownerstoday.com
Leadership & Play: A Perfect Combination! By: Shawn Byler, Intentional Influence
Executives and business owners tend to grow very serious, sometimes ever somber, depressed, anxious and boring during their years of leadership and business development. Yet, in my experience the most successful, joyful and profitgenerating leaders are the ones who believe play is a cornerstone of living and leading. Play is wildly underestimated as a means of achieving success and building a profitable enterprise.
A leader is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play. - Heraclitus How would your business, career, life, attitude, emotions, and family or friend interactions change if you played, I mean truly played, a little every day? Do you even know how to play anymore? Or has it been “squeezed” out of you? What activities would you consider as play if you chose to give yourself permission to play again? Some of my favorites include: playing practical jokes, jumping on the bed, skipping down the road or through the mall, jumping out from behind doors to scare people, traveling, dancing like a goof around my home (or anywhere that has good music), going to clothing stores and trying on the most outrageous outfits and taking photos, playing with children, playing board games, rock climbing, tree climbing, snowboarding, trampoline bouncing ... Seriously, I will do anything that makes me feel like a kid at play. And guess what? I stay in great shape as
an added benefit. I am a 40-year old woman-kid, and it’s an extraordinary foundation from which to exist, lead, interact and love!
Take Action! Find Your Play. 1. Make a list of 30 silly, fun, outrageous, risky, or crazy ways to play. Don’t delay; make this list now or you may never do it. 2. Place one play item on your calendar each day for the next 30 days. Repeat easy items to make this action simple and doable, like dancing around your home or office. Make time for this; you deserve it. I promise, adding play to your daily life will be one of the most rewarding habits you ever adopt. We are far too removed from our child-like innocence. Of course there are many reasons our innocence is interrupted, but we can reclaim it, revel in it, and find our fire for living, anytime we are willing.
Benefits Of Adding Play • • • • •
Ignite creativity, passion, and inspired living Create a joyful attitude toward life that will have your employees dying to follow your lead Expand staff loyalty into business growth Increase your energy (Maybe) lose a few of the pounds that your serious lifestyle has added to your waist or hips
These really are just a few benefits you will experience from learning to play again. You’ll soon be addicted to adventure and play (like ME) and miraculously, your company, team or department will begin performing better as your level of play and joy increases.
Choosing to
Thrive
NOT JUST SURVIVE By: Julie Starr, Possibility Life Coaching for Women
Exhausted? Fatigued? Overworked? Unfortunately these scenarios can describe many people in today’s society. Too many hours at the office, double duties as homemaker/parent and the pace of life in general, with technology coming at you from every direction, creates havoc and chaos. Our lives don’t have to be out of control and filled with chaotic motion. We can choose to live healthier, more abundant lives by placing selfmanagement at the top of our lists. We constantly hear about stress management, but what is selfmanagement? Self- management is all about how you cope and interact with circumstances and people who appear in your life. We can’t stop stress from entering our lives but we can manage our self with confidence and strength to ensure good feelings, energy and thoughts.
This is the cure for stress. When YOU are in control of yourself by choosing to be aware of your circumstances, and you are willing to learn strategies to help you through, you move from surviving to thriving. Dr. Sharon Melnick, a Harvard-trained psychologist and educator, gave a lecture about our power to control our lives. By taking responsibility for what is in our control and letting go of what is not, we are able to catch our breath and live with more tranquility. Dr. Melnick speaks about the 50% rule. In relationships we are responsible for our 50% of any relationship. The relationship you have with your boss, spouse, child etc. is 50% yours. She stresses (and I use that word lightly) that trying to control what is not in your 50% creates feelings of stress.
Our lives don’t have to be out of control and filled with chaotic motion. To clarify, each one of us must be impeccable with our half. Live with integrity. Do what you say and say what you will do. Make it a rule to under-promise and over-deliver. Carrying your weight in life is the responsible, right thing to do. By doing your full part, you not only create your best life but you contribute to helping others live their best lives. So what do you do when others don’t carry their load? First appreciate that we each come from our own upbringing and social conditioning. Each person’s long-standing coping patterns will ultimately affect the direction of a
relationship. Even if your intentions are good and you work hard to create a life of ease and calm, things may not turn out as well as you had hoped. Self-management to the rescue! Self-care for body, mind and spirit allows you to make educated, balanced decisions. Evaluate what you want for your life. Understand what is acceptable and what is not acceptable for your standards. Too many of us settle for less because of fear. Letting go when necessary is part of living a true life. Living with an open heart that accepts differences is also vital.
Know that you have control of your life. Oprah is quoted as having said, “All stress comes from resisting what is.” I agree that we do spend too much energy trying to fight the stuff we can’t change. Owning your 50% and being the best you, along with knowing what you want in your life, will lead you to stress-lessness and bring in more of the stuff you are looking for to create your best life.
A few life coaching tips for self-management: 1. Create a self-care program for your life. Include your body, mind and spirit. 2. Become mindful of life in general. Creating a practice of gratitude (starting a journal is a great place to start) and breath work (which will create peace of mind) are two great places to start. 3. Find support to help manage your self. Find a good friend, pastor/rabbi or life coach who can help guide you to soothing techniques and advice.
Go on... SMASH Your Sales Targets! By: Nicola Cook, Aurora Consulting
Eight years ago when I left paid employment to embark on my entrepreneurial journey, all of my colleagues signed a book they’d given me as a parting gift. One of the inscriptions read, “Nicola: remember focus, focus, focus!” At the time I didn’t appreciate the wisdom in those simple words. Yet, eight years on I understand why the placement on focus is an integral part of building business success. As I write this we are currently 8 working days into the month and I have already smashed my personal sales target. As a business we are 35% up on our year-to-date revenue target, which is the fourth consecutive year of growth for our company. I’m sure you’ll agree these are fantastic results, especially at a time when the media would have you believe the economy is doomed and business growth is difficult or impossible. However, there are many examples that would prove them wrong. So what are companies doing to persistently record growth and strong sales results? There are many answers to that question, but I’ll share 4 key elements that I consistently apply in my business and also with my clients.
You must know where you are heading. I know this is obvious, but so many businesses that I’ve worked with started out with a plan, then got busy. They are so focused on delivering the products or services within the business that they’ve forgotten to plan the next step. Have you evaluated: • What you did last year? • What is your plan this year? • Who is your target market? • Who is your ideal customer & what are their needs? • How do you plan to reach these clients? If not, then I suggest you start here. I’m always surprised by how many companies don’t have even the simplest of targets. Without that level of focus how can you know what you should be working on?
Once you’ve decided on the direction, get emotionally attached to it.
All behaviour is driven by underlying emotional needs, so ensure that both you and everyone in your sales team has an emotional connection with the business objectives. Tie the objectives to something meaningful for each person. What would you be able to have, do, share, experience or give away once the business objectives are met and your customers are completely served?
Plan your route with measurable activities to get there.
Protect your positive belief.
What systems, resources, and strategies do you need to apply? Unless you clearly define what actions you need to take on a daily basis to move forward, you will end up with your business, your customers, and a whole bunch of other external forces running you, rather than you driving your results.
Negativity is like cancer. If left unchecked, it will leak into your organization and your own unconscious mind, polluting every cell of your being. This can have a devastating effect on your success because‌.
If you currently plan your day based on the content of your morning emails or what your colleagues ask of you, then you have fallen into the reactive trap. Instead, compile a breakdown of what measurable actions need your focus on a daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly basis to keep you moving forward. One of the first things I ask companies I consult with is to show me sales reports. I want to know their OBV (order book value), monthly sales figures, pipeline reports and activity reports. I also want to know how many customers they are in dialogue with, how many meetings their sales team conducts in a set period and what marketing activities they have executed. Everyone must focus on driving productive activity or be at the mercy of other people and circumstances.
Where your focus goes, your energy flows. Then what you can focus on will expand. Therefore it’s imperative to avoid negativity in the form of negative people (including customers) and negative cultural influences (such as the media and Internet). Instead flood your brain and your organization with positive influences that focus you on success. These influences can be in the form of positive people, conferences, mastermind groups or even productive networking environments. They support your own positivity and personal growth by focusing on materials that support your vision and business journey. Nothing is stopping you from smashing your targets this week, this month, this year‌so go on, make it happen, you know you want to!
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Business Etiquette By: Christine Dubyts, Dubyts Communications Inc.
We’ve all been there. You’re sitting in a meeting with a half dozen people and one person is looking down, tapping furiously on their phone, oblivious to the discussion. Or you’ve sent an important email to a supplier, left multiple voice mail and still no response. Is this rude or just the way business is done today? Here are some comments from our connections on Facebook and LinkedIn about what they feel is important business etiquette.
Lisa H. – Call back and return email in a timely fashion. Even if you email back and say something like, “got your email and will get back to you.” Being polite will never go out of style.
wait! The person in front of you is priority. If you know you have an urgent call that might come in, explain that as the conversation begins, so the person will not feel slighted.
Danielle B. - Always be on time. If possible show up at least 10-15 minutes early.
LeTonya C. - Responsiveness to emails phone calls and even texts. Even if it is just an acknowledgement and timeframe of when you will get back to the client with an update or more information. Responsiveness demonstrates that you value them and their time. When I first start any interaction with clients, one of the first things I do is give them a timeframe of when they can expect to hear from me whenever they reach out; then I am sure to make good on that word. It strengthens credibility and fosters a trusting working relationship.
Kay S. – When you’re in a meeting turn your phone off. It is simply RUDE to respond to email, texts and IM when there are other people in the same room. This goes for any situation where you’re talking face-to face with someone. Lara L. – For business dealings sometimes picking up the phone to talk to the person is faster and more effective than going back and forth with email and text messages. Libby S. – Be conscious of the ringtones you choose. A few years ago I was in a high stakes meeting with some VIPs and one of their phones started ringing. It was this awful rap song. The woman was clearly embarrassed and yep I think it made a bad impression. Phyllis B. – Have an attitude of gratitude and service. Everyday I think about how I can be of service and add great value to my customer experience! Stephanie C. - If you are having a conversation with someone, give them your full attention. If the phone rings or a text comes in, it really can
Bonny M. – Always be kind to your employees. I have seen too many women bullies. Pamela M. - If someone texts you, respond. If you are on social media such as Facebook then you need to respond to posts. It is just polite! (And if you don’t people won’t engage with you in the future) Waynett P. - Treat each client/customer as though they are your most valued, special one. Be attentive, smile & go that extra mile. And last but certainly not least, Wendy T. reminds us of something that we often forget. Wendy T. - Thank the customer for their business.
How to Break Out of the ‘Female Entrepreneur’ Trap By: Dr. Shelley Prevost, Lamp Post Group
Want to succeed as a female founder? Quit
• She doesn’t do panels as the “token female,”
talking about being a female founder.
not because she’s against this well-meaning
As the lone female founder of a bustling incubator, I’m approached by women who feel dispirited, restless, confused, and insecure about their ability to jump off the cliff into the start-up unknown. I listen. I empathize. I offer anecdotes for breaking
exploitation, but because she’s just too damn busy. • She’s hustling, recruiting people, building things, creating a movement. • Her urgency is palpable. She takes little thrill in small talk, walks fast, and thinks big.
out of their fear. In good ex-therapist fashion, I
I had a meeting this week with one of our female
encourage them to take a risk.
founders. She is the type of female entrepreneur
While I understand the need to discuss their selfdoubt and analyze the dearth of women starting high-growth companies, I am growing weary of these conversations. They have an echo chamber quality that, I fear, is doing little to actually solve the problem or help women move forward.
that I just described. She isn’t interested in talking about being a “female founder” because it isn’t important to her. She’s building a business and a team. She’s landing multi-million dollar contracts. She’s focused on her family and her kids. She has clear goals and is uncompromising in seeing them met. And she’s equally passionate
Instead of talking, let’s start acting.
about bringing other good people along with
Here’s the profile of a female entrepreneur that I
creating huge momentum around herself and
want to work with:
her start-up.
her. As decisive as she is collaborative, she is
• She’s never attended a women’s symposium. Reprinted with Permission | Inc. Magazine; Feb 26, 2013
I listened to an interview recently with Supreme Court justice Sonia Sotomayor. If she were an entrepreneur, she’d be a badass. And one I’d want to hang out with. Talking about failure and resilience, she said, “If you live in the sting, you will undoubtedly fail. My way of getting past the sting is to say, “No, I’m just not going to let this get me down.” You’re the only woman in your tech incubator? Capitalize on your uniqueness. You have an amazing idea that’s difficult to execute? Ask for help. You feel isolated on a team of men? Find other ways to get support, then keep moving. Don’t live in the sting. Excuses only amplify the problems. There’s a big difference between naming and blaming. It’s OK to name the inequities that exist in the start-up community, but don’t blame anything on them.
Instead, change the course by leading the charge. Get crystal clear on your assets and strengths. Get exceptionally good at execution. Recruit others to your cause. Empower them to fill in the gaps where you are weak. Work harder than anyone else. Last I looked, whether you’re a man or a woman, this is the recipe for success. One of my mentors and role models, Pamela Dubin Beaty, recently said, “After billions of dollars to fund women’s advancement and achievement in public policy and education, we in the West live in an unprecedented era that offers women the greatest opportunities in the history of our world. Want to succeed? Embrace technology, entrepreneurship, and the start-up culture. All three reward excellence. Create your niche and lead from there.” Want to lead? Then do it.
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How Female Leaders Should Handle Double-Standards By: Herminia Ibarra, Insead
IMF head Christine Lagarde tells a story about a woman leader she met who took over at a tough moment in her country’s history and resolved to be different. They had to cut the deficit and she wanted to set standards by personal example. When she travelled around the country, she took a small entourage of five cars. But the women she met in the villages asked her why only five cars when the men before her travelled with twenty-five. Stereotypes have been set and cast in stone, explained Lagarde, making women feel they have to act like men to be heard. “Keep your five cars,” Lagarde advised her, “dare the difference. Sometimes our five cars are better than their twenty-five.”
How women are perceived — how they dress,
tough but never just right, and as competent or
talk, their “executive presence,” capacity to “fill a
likeable, but rarely both. Either way, the research
room,” leadership style and public image — has
concludes, women are evaluated against a
been the object of vast, well-intentioned efforts
“masculine” standard of leadership that leaves
to get more women to the top. Voice coaches,
them limited options and distracts attention
image consultants, public speaking instructors
from the task at hand.
and branding experts have filled the growing demand for these services.
When people are focused on how they are coming across to others — managing their image
The premise is that women have not been
— they divert their attention away from their
socialized to compete successfully in the world
larger leadership purpose, are less clear about
of men, and so they must be taught the skills
their goals and less open to learning. Lubna
their male counterparts have acquired naturally.
Olayan, the Saudi CEO of Olayan Financing,
But, at the same time, they must “tone it down”
recalls a time in Jeddah when debate about her
or risk being labeled as having sharp elbows.
head cover trumped the content of her message.
Catalyst calls this the Dammed if You Do, Doomed if You Don’t dilemma — use twenty-five cars and you’re showing off, use only five and you lack power. As Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg points out, women are perceived as too soft or too Reprinted with Permission | Harvard Business Review; February 8, 2013
“We should just focus on what we have to do,” she concluded, “women shouldn’t be distracted by things that take away from what we are trying to accomplish.”
Who are you supposed to be? While women are likely no more susceptible
hang out; and never confuse “being authentic”
than men to such diversions, subtle (and not so
with “fatal flaws” such as treating people poorly.
subtle) cultural biases can easily turn women’s attention inward as they try to reconcile conflicting messages about how to behave as leaders. What to do then, in a world when image and perceptions matter, and gender stereotypes remain firmly entrenched? My conclusions are: • Understand how you are perceived and what role gender stereotypes play in those perceptions. Get informed about the research; don’t be naive. • Have clarity of purpose. Know why you are doing what you are doing, and how it will advance the collective good. • Be yourself. “Dare the difference,” as Lagarde advises. But do so skillfully. Don’t just let it all
For instance, in a recent interview with members of Hillary Clinton’s press corps, a veteran reporter said: “The story is never what she says, as much as we want it to be. The story is always how she looked when she said it.” Clinton says she doesn’t fight it anymore; she focuses on getting the job done.
Land, Cars & Words Interesting facts About Women Around the World
63
The percentage of women who define success at work as finding the right balance between work and personal life.
1%
37 The age of the youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 Company. Marissa Ann Mayer, CEO of Yahoo, July 16, 2012
The amount of land around the world women own.
52
The percentage of new cars bought by women.
33%
MORE Is the amount, on average, that women auto mechanics make relative to their male counterparts.
81
The percent of women who search online before making a purchase decision.
7000 The number of words a woman speaks each day; men speak about 2,000.
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57.4%
62% Visuals are processed 60,000x faster in the brain than text
60,000x
1%
Armed with this kind of intel you will make better marketing decisions. If you’re not up to speed in this area align yourself with a company who is.
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Why Go Online? By: Marina Kostina, Wired@Heart
You love your clients. You love connecting and engaging with them. And you’d love being able to make a difference on a larger scale. But there is only one of you! And that means that no matter what, your impact (and income) will always be limited. We live in a very exciting time, as there are literally billions of online businesses nowadays. However, 95% of online businesses fail and they fail in a matter of months! These statistics tell us two very important things: 1) Small business owners finally realize that the online environment has tremendous potential for impact, profitability, and building the lifestyle of their dreams. 2) Most online businesses fail, and fail super-fast because they do not know how to bring their brand online in an effective way. Many “business gurus” promise that designing an info product will solve all your financial frustrations, magically attract lots of clients, and ultimately will help you build a lifestyle of your dreams. I strongly believe that most info products experts are missing the KEY ingredient: building connection and engagement in cyberspace. The right way to make your brand shine online: After 10 years of working online and conducting research on online interactions for my doctorate dissertation, I know one thing for sure: connection and engagement is THE KEY to success in cyberspace! I believe that an engaged client is a happy client. It is a client who will
keep on buying your products, develop a sense of identity with your brand, will produce great results that he will gladly share with others, and will become your biggest fan and an advocate for your business! There are 5 types of connection that businesses need to foster while bringing their brand online: # 1: Building Client-Client Connection The client-client type of engagement is where clients engage with each other, creating an online community. Often, such communities are considered to be a “bonus” to an online product. I argue that developing such communities is a MUST. You can easily create a community of like-minded individuals even with self-paced, downloadable products by providing an opportunity to access an online forum, or maybe creating a private Facebook group where your clients can interact and share their experiences, questions, and success stories. 2: Building Client-Mentor Connection The secret of engagement is this: you need to find a way of making your trainees feel that they are involved in a learning process that they own, one that they have helped to construct, and that they are working on a piece of work that is relevant to their lives and interests. They are searching for information and finding in it what is of most interest and relevance for their piece of work, reporting the progress of their work to others, and benefiting from the feedback. They are giving constructive input that can help fellow participants clarify concepts and arguments in
their work, being producers of knowledge rather than consumers of it, and having a hand in their destiny and living creatively as they progress through the program. #3: Building Client-Content Connection Client-content engagement refers to the client’s accessing the content of the course or a program. You have to consciously and continuously facilitate discussions, and guide your clients toward the program goals. Remember, this is not a mentorship approach in which you tell your clients where to go to find answers; rather, you encourage them to explore the parameters of an issue, raise questions, and go to the program content and other valid sources of information to find their own answers. #4: Building Client-Platform Connection A Learning Management System (LMS), an interactive video, or a downloadable PDF seriesare all important in the learning process: it is a part of the learning community, as your clients must engage with the technical platform that delivers your product. As the mentor, your responsibility is to facilitate interaction between the platform and the client. In order to minimize early dropouts because of technology, you should help your clients with navigation tools by creating a short video or a detailed PDF cheat sheet that explains how to interact with the platform, download a product or post a comment in a discussion forum. You can also develop problem solving queries in which you can invite clients’ comments on the culture of online learning, its strengths and its limitations, and ask for suggestions on how their current learning experience might be improved.
#5: Client-Learning Process Connection Clients need to feel that the learning process respects their needs and that they are trusted to have a say in what they learn and how: they need to feel that they have agency and that you are fostering their autonomy. Explain to the clients the basics of the online interactions, where each participant creates a new identity and information might be miscommunicated more easily than in face-to-face interactions. Delayed response and technology might create a sense of isolation. When the clients are aware of the challenges of the online environment and have the tools to deal with these challenges, they will less likely become frustrated with the program and will not lose their motivation. In conclusion, if you want to multiply your impact and income, you MUST bring your brand online! Imagine not having to worry about attracting new clients. Imagine creating a referral powerhouse where your satisfied clients spread the word about you! (Remember, people would more likely buy a product recommended by their friends).
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