Moms In Business Magazine, June 2012 by The National Association For Moms In Business

FREE! Subscribe Online

Are These Mistakes Costing You Your Job?

Liza Mundy

The Richer Sex

Finance Your through Business Joint Ventures New Incoming President of Moms In Business!

Discover Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires

Moms In Business Magazine • June 2012 • PAGE 1

PAGE 2 • June, 2012 • Moms In Business Magazine

Moms In Business Magazine • June 2012 • PAGE 3

NOTES

From The Founder

Gina Robison-Billups; NAFMIB Founder, CEO

New NAFMIB President is Chosen

ear NAFMIB Members:

It is with great pleasure that I announce today that the National Association For Moms In Business (NAFMIB) Board of Directors unanimously selected a new President after a two-year candidate search. For the first time in the eight-year history of NAFMIB, I will not be president, and I couldn’t be more proud or excited to welcome Richelle Shaw into her term as President of NAFMIB on June 1. Richelle is a graduate of UCLA and has been in Las Vegas since 1991. She built her first business to $36million and lost it all after the 9/11 Tragedies. She rebuilt her million-dollar company back in 5 months. Richelle held the distinction of being the only female public utility owner in the nation before selling her telephone company in 2007. She is a sought after expert and has been featured in USA Today, Entrepreneur, Black Enterprise, Smart Money and a featured expert for Wells Fargo Small Business Online, Workz.com, Moms In Business and an author. Richelle’s first book, How to Build A Million Dollar Business in Las Vegas – Without the Casinos was first published in 2008. Richelle’s 2nd book, entitled, MD, INC. The business of marketing a practice and her 3rd book, Don’t Call it A Comeback – How to Build A Business During A Recession are slated to premier in the next 18 months. In addition to writing, Richelle is an international speaker, with requests from Barcelona, Spain and South Africa. She also runs her publishing company, RTS Publishing, LLC and coaches entrepreneurs. Via her online web store, Richelle consistently sells her custom Business Bootcamp DVDs, Customers for Life Program and the Ultimate Marketing Plan Workshop. She also is a Certified Physician Marketing Expert helping physicians build their dream practice. Richelle’s privately owned businesses are in the top 3% of all women owned businesses and in the top .01% of all African American owned businesses in the United States according to the Center for Women’s Business Research. Richelle is a single mom of the cutest little girl, Devyn, who has inherited her mother’s no-nonsense viewpoint and abundant charm. Richelle lives in Henderson, NV, and her mom lives with her to help with the care of Devyn. You can find many online training videos where she frankly discusses her business strategies that she’s learned from being a mom. I’ve known Richelle for many years and there are three things I know for sure about Richelle: 1. She’s a brilliant businesswoman and marketer. 2. She has a wickedly funny sense of humor. 3. She cares deeply for the issues that moms in business face daily. The cause is very close to her heart, and she is dedicated to helping each member succeed in fulfilling her dreams. I have no doubt that Richelle will bring both her business brilliance, her sense of humor and her mission and drive to help moms succeed to the job of president. In other words...she’s gonna rock the joint! Best Wishes,

Gina Robison-Billups PAGE 4 • June, 2012 • Moms In Business Magazine

INSIDE

Happy Father’s Day!

JUNE

2012

4 NOTES

from the Founder/CEO, Gina Robison-Billups

NOW 6

Moms Minutes

News

10 25

Important Tips and Briefs Updates

Moms Vote Matters

Instant Impact Legislative Update

Calendar of Events

Featured events, conferences and more

FEATURE 14

Liza Mundy

The Richer Sex

STANDOUT 12

Building Your Business Online Using Giveaways

Creating Value With Your Time

Top 4 Resume Mistakes that Could Cost You the Job

Get More of Those Elusive “Passive Backlinks”

Do You Know What Women Really Want?

Small Business Finance: Use Joint Venture Partners

Bits ‘n Pieces ~ What Is A Dad?

List building and growing an online business can be one of the most challenging things anyone could ever do.

Besides taking steps too increase your value, you must also increase the time you spend creating value to boost...

You’ve probably heard the saying: “Looking for a job is a full-time job.”

For Beter Pagerank and More Targeted Traffic

Marketing wisdom tells us that 80 percent of all household purchases are made by women...

What is a strategic or joint venture partnership?

“The hardest years in life are those between ten and seventy.”

Helen Hayes at age 73

On The Cover

Liza Mundy

Moms In Business Magazine • June 2012 • PAGE 5

NOW

Moms Minutes

New Design Study Finds That Coffee Organizes Handbags Drinkers Have Lower Risk of Death and Diaper Bags A study conducted by NIH provided results that older adults who drank coffee -- caffeinated or decaffeinated -- had a lower risk of death overall than others who did not drink coffee,

according a study by researchers from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, and AARP. Coffee drinkers were less likely to die from heart disease, respiratory disease, stroke, injuries and accidents, diabetes, and infections, although the association was not seen for cancer. These results from a large study of older adults were observed after adjustment for the effects of other risk factors on mortality, such as smoking and alcohol consumption. Researchers caution, however, that they can’t be sure whether these associations mean that drinking coffee actually makes people live longer. The results of the study were published in the May 17, 2012, edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Companies Cash In With Their Unwanted Computers, Electronics & Inventory Businesses across the nation are turning in their old computers, obsolete inventory, eWaste and other products, to get paid and they get pick up for free in many cities. Now there is a computer asset recovery service that can actually help businesses to maximize the return for used computer and electronics products, while ensuring that personal and confidential data is not shared or compromised. Advanced Electronics Recycling Solutions (AERS) collects, segregates and dismantles or resale’s, used, obsolete and unwanted computers and

other electronics. Through the electronics recycling program, all dismantled products are processed by material content (i.e. metals, plastic, etc.), to make sure that they are processed properly for reuse to manufacture new products. The asset recovery program consists of products that are collected and available for resale from businesses. The items are sorted by the product type, model numbers and then go through a very intensive testing procedure to insure the functionality and quality of the products. They are then re-marketed and sold to re-manufacturing, repair and refurbishment companies. www.scrapelectronics.com

PAGE 6 • June, 2012 • Moms In Business Magazine

Innovated new product to find that ringing cell phone or lost baby bottle in the bottom of a bag. Introducing Seez-it® handbag and diaper bag organizing labels that will eliminate the need to go digging through a filled bag to find the missing items. Seez-it® labels save clutter, are lightweight, no extra bulk to carry and are fun to use. Entrepreneur introduces all new handbag organizer system that is the first of its kind. Addicks Enterprises LLC is bringing its Seez-it Labels that are designed to help women find a particular item in their purse in a small amount of time. The labels are sold in a kit that helps keep handbags and diaper bags organized. According to Cynthia Strauss, developer of Seez-it labels, “This is a new product that has never been done before to organize bags.” Strauss developed the concept while she was undergoing chemo for cancer and could not remember where she put things in her purse. Seez-it labels attach to the interior of a handbag to help organize the bag. They help keep purses neat and organized so that it is never necessary to dump out the contents to find keys or other items. The unique Seez-it labels will keep women from the need to dig in their purses to find an important item. Addicks Enterprises LLC won 1st place in the 2012 Queens Economic Development Council business plan contest for innovative new products. Addicks LLC is approved as a NYC Minority/Women owned business. Cynthia is a member of the National Association of Professional Women. http://www.seez-itnow.com.

Moms Minutes

The First

Brain Fitness Website

for Women

Grey matter really does matter to

women. Achieving mental acuity should be both engaging and fun according to DaisyBrains.com. Almost 70% of new Alzheimer’s patients will be women. Many women complain of brain performance fluctuations during pregnancy and menopause. And women are twice as likely to suffer from depression as men. Grounded in the latest research in neuroscience, DaisyBrains.com offers games that focus on memory, concentration, reasoning and verbal fluency. “Women are showing

tremendous interest in exercising their brains. Research shows that performance improvements in brain games carryover into better performance in daily life,” says Claire Herring, speech-language pathologist and co-creator of Daisy Brains. Unlike other brain training systems on the market, Daisy Brains includes both clinically-designed brain games as well as right-brain activities in the form of creativity exercises. Drawing challenges encourage innovative thinking. Artful results are displayed in the public gallery for admiration and recognition.

Women are invited to register for a free introductory membership and explore everything from brain games to creativity challenges. Members may then select a paid subscription to enjoy hundreds of inspiring brain exercises. As members improve, they earn points and move up levels in Daisy Brains. www.DaisyBrains.com

Smartphone Social Media Monitoring and App Blocking Introduced Continuing its efforts to keep children safe on their computers, tablets and smartphones, Retina-X Studios® announced today the sixth generation of Mobile Spy® monitoring software for smartphones. The award-winning system has been fully overhauled to include many new social media recording features and application blocking. Mobile Spy, available across five different smartphone platforms, silently records smartphone user activity of children or employees. Logs are viewable online in real time. Standard features include monitoring of entire SMS text messages, actual GPS

locations, call information and photos taken on the phone. Logs can be reviewed from any web browser inside a secure online control panel. Adding the ability to view nine types of Social Media messengers allows the user to view conversations which happen in Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp Messenger, BlackBerry Messenger, BlackBerry PIN Messenger, GTalk, Twitter and others. This gives the user the ability to make sure their employees are not sharing confidential material or that their children aren’t communicating with

forbidden individuals. Mobile Spy offers the industry’s only LIVE Control Panel, which allows the user to instantly view the phone’s screen and a map of the current GPS location. More details at: www. mobile-spy.com.

Moms In Business Magazine • June 2012 • PAGE 7

NOW

News

BREAKING NEWS!

Winner of the Moms In Business Grant Announced New President for NAFMIB! MARK THESE DATES ON YOUR CALENDAR:

June 1, 2012— Announcing New NAFMIB President June 2, 2012 — Nevada Women’s Money Conference, Las Vegas NV June 9, 2012 — Nevada Women’s Money Conference, Reno, NV

And Now the NEWS! Mom of Four Wins National $50,000 Moms In Business Grant Package Tara Coles MD, wins nation’s only crowdfunding business grant while raising four kids and working as an emergency room doctor. Washington DC May 11, 2012 - Mom of Four, Emergency Room Doctor, and budding entrepreneur, Dr. Tara Coles, MD is the national grand prize recipient of the Moms In Business Grant. Dr. Coles will receive a package of business growth tools and cash valued at more than $50,000 from The National Association For Moms In Business (NAFMIB), the leading association representing the fifteen million entrepreneur, executive and CEO moms in the United States.

The grant is expanding and innovating the way mom business owners can get capital for their businesses. The Moms In Business Grant uses the internet phenomenon of “crowdfunding” to give mom business owners a better chance at launching a new business or expanding a current business project. It’s the first and only business grant competition to utilize crowdfunding. Tara has become known as the “super-shero” mom in the NAFMIB office and has astounded everyone with her drive and tenacity. In addition to launching ArtNest, Tara is an Emergency Room doctor and a mom of four. Tara surpassed her grant race funding goal three times. Her initial goal was to raise $1,000 in the crowdfunding race portion of the competition; however, within the first three days she surpassed that goal. She raised it to $2,000, then to $3,000 and finally to $3,500. In addition, she coached her grant race “rivals” to help them get better results because she believes that there is more power in every mom doing well. Tara is PAGE 8 • June, 2012 • Moms In Business Magazine

a member of the National Association For Moms In Business, and is a graduate of both ACTiVATE and the Founders Institute. Dr. Coles’ winning entrepreneurial project is ArtNest. ArtNest’s mission is to spread the love of original art, to promote support for emerging artists, and to provide unique opportunities for art and culture in local communities. It also provides a platform to make art and the art world more accessible, transparent, and connected to the everyday. According to the SBA, Women own over 9 million businesses, yet they receive the least amount of financing from traditional sources. Women traditionally own smaller types of businesses that don’t meet financial assistance minimums of banks and venture capital firms. Tara was one of those women with several attempts and trying tradition business lending with no success. She saw the Moms In Business Grant as a way to test out the viability of her entrepreneurial dream without tapping her credit cards for needed capital. The Moms In Business Grant is the first and only crowdfunding business grant. “Crowdfunding” is a platform to raise money by attracting many small donations from a large group (friends, family, professional contacts, etc.) to meet a funding goal. “Backers” give contributions in exchange for rewards or perks offered by the grant applicant - rewards can be any product, service or experience to which the grant applicant has access. “Moms In Business is giving a crowdfunding business grant rather than using the traditional grant-giving model for three reasons,” says founder and president of the National Association For Moms In Business, Gina Robison-Billups, “We wanted to provide an innovative way to motivate moms to kick start or grow their businesses. In addition, it’s an “everybody wins” scenario where all those that participate have the opportunity to raise money, create exposure, and build a following for their business, and lastly, due to the promotional requirements to be successful via crowdfunding, it’s a good way to identify those entrepreneurs who will go the extra mile to publicize and build their ventures, therefore making them ideal candidates for our grand prize grant of $50,000 in business growth tools.” The package includes advertising in Moms In Business Magazine, customized monthly business coaching from CEO moms, Covermom feature in Moms In Business Magazine, a team of expert marketing and business advisers at her disposal and $1,000 in cash -- all in addition to the $3,600 Tara raised in the competition.

New “Moms In Business” President Chosen The National Association For Moms In Business (NAFMIB) Board of Directors unanimously selected a new President after a twoyear candidate search. The founder of NAFMIB, Gina Robison-Billups, has served as president since the organization’s start, “I couldn’t be more proud or excited to welcome Richelle Shaw into her term as President of NAFMIB on June 1.” Gina will be close by and will still serve as the CEO of The International Association of Working Mothers, the parent organization of NAFMIB and now serves as president of the Women’s MoneyTM Council as well. Richelle Shaw held the distinction of being the only female African American public utility owner in the nation before selling her telephone company in 2007. She built her first business to $36million and lost it all after the 9/11 Tragedies. She rebuilt her million-dollar company back in 5 months. She is a sought after expert and has been featured in USA Today, Entrepreneur, Black Enterprise, Smart Money and a featured expert for Wells Fargo Small Business Online, Workz.com, Moms In Business and an author. Richelle’s first book, How to Build A Million Dollar Business in Las Vegas – Without the Casinos was first published in 2008. Richelle’s 2nd book, entitled, MD, INC, the business of marketing a practice and her 3rd book, Don’t Call it A Comeback – How to Build A Business During A Recession are slated to premier in the next 18 months. In addition to writing, Richelle is an international speaker, with requests from Barcelona, Spain and South Africa. She also runs her publishing company, RTS Publishing, LLC and coaches entrepreneurs. Via her online webstore, Richelle consistently sells her custom Business Bootcamp DVDs, Customers for Life Program and the Ultimate Marketing Plan Workshop. She also is a Certified Physician Marketing Expert helping physicians build their dream practice. Richelle’s privately owned businesses are in the top 3% of all women owned businesses and the top .01% of all African American owned businesses in the United States according to the Center for Women’s Business Research. The first items on Richelle’s agenda as new president of NAFMIB is as long as a grocery list; however, all items have one goal in mind: building membership engagement. Please post comments to welcome Richelle on our facebook page: www.facebook.com/momsinbusiness

Moms In Business Magazine • June 2012 • PAGE 9

NOW

Moms Vote Matters MomsVoteMatters.com

Moms Vote Matters is a program for moms in business to learn, influence, communicate, and engage in community and national policies that effect their families and their businesses www.WIPP.org

This Month’s Mom’s Vote Matters is Powered WIPP WORKS IN WASHINGTON by Women Impacting Public Policy

Do Women Run This Town? By Ann Sullivan First some facts: there are 17 women in the US Senate and 73 women serving in the US House. That’s 17% of the Senators and 16% of the House. Yet, according to the President’s numbers, women make up more than half of the workforce and 60% of those earning a bachelor’s degree were women. Perhaps the story that matches this low number of women in the Congress most is the percentage of women who are in executives in Fortune 500 companies and hold board seats in those companies. According to Catalyst, only 14% of these executives were women. Women hold only 16% of the board seats of Fortune 500 companies. Contrast that with women business owners. Women owned businesses make up over 1/3 of all businesses in the country. Yet, only a small number of those businesses have revenues over $1 million. These statistics point to the fact that while we represent the workforce in equal numbers to men, women do not hold the same positions. While we represent roughly 50% of the voters, we are woefully underrepresented in Congress. There are some clues about why this is the case. A study done by Women’s Campaign Forum Foundation, shows that compared to men, only 31% of women make political contributions. Only 35% of women’s contributions went to female Congressional candidates. The effect of the lack of giving, according to WCF Foundation, is that women who are running struggle to match their male counterparts’ fundraising numbers. And in this environment, it is not possible to win unless the candidate has adequate financial resources to run. Yet, when it comes to WIPP’s agenda, the women in Congress are always the ones to step up to the plate. Who is leading the charge to change the WOSB procurement program? The women in the Senate and the women in the House. Who is championing an extension of the tax deductions important to women business owners? Senator Olympia Snowe and fourteen women in the Senate. Access to capital for small businesses? Senator Mary Landrieu is the champion. Who champions funding for Women Business Centers? Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson. Let’s just imagine that many more women were elected to Congress. Would the Congress change? One change for sure would be the amount of women testifying before Congress. WIPP’s analysis of the hearings held in the last year in the House and Senate shows that 20% of all hearings with private sector witnesses had no women testifying. If they don’t hear from us, I’m pretty sure decisions are being made without us. Would the partisan atmosphere change? A little known fact is that all the women in the Senate make an effort to go to dinner—Republicans and Democrats. I don’t know about you, but it’s pretty hard to call someone names that you have dinner with. It seems to me that many more women would move their families to Washington, if elected. That would dramatically change the atmosphere. When your kids play soccer with someone else’s kids, it’s a little tough to be hostile. In order to change the dynamic in Washington, we have to support women who are running for public office. Start now by contributing to candidates that support your concerns. Do women run this town? Not yet. If we all band together, the possibilities are endless.

PAGE 10 • June, 2012 • Moms In Business Magazine

Aren’t They Cute?

We’re So Proud of All The Banks We’ve Helped Save! - no job too big or too small - tell your graphic designer -

Business Printing & Direct Mailing Crazy Great Everyday Low Prices for High Quality Professional Printing in a Snap! - Business Cards - Brochures - Banners - Postcards - Letterhead - Envelopes - Flyers - Vehicle Magnets & Wraps - Signs - Posters - Labels - NCR - Catalogs - Folders - Large Format - Calendars - Bookmarks - Rack Cards & Much More -

Save 10% Faster On Printing With Code: mibn Sign up for Monthly Specials & Coupons and Save Even Faster!

Need Help With Design? VastArray.com special rate with this ad Moms In Business Magazine • June 2012 • PAGE 11

STANDOUT

Giveaway Connection Powered By: Giveaway Connection The Leading Giveaway Resource Site

Building Your Online Business Using

Giveaways

By Philip Mutrie

1)Don’t try and download everything you see. We all love

freebies, even me, but if you try to download each and every item offered, it’s probably going to be a complete waste of time. Trying to download everything is a perfect scenario of coming down with a bad case of “information overload” and odds are great, that you will never open a majority of the files.

ist building and growing an online business can be one of the most challenging things anyone could ever do. Have you ever heard of building a list of prospects and growing your online business using Giveaways as a technique to drive traffic to your landing page? Well, today I would like to let you in on how to use giveaways effectively to build your list and to grow your online business. When you’re just getting started in your online business, giveaways are by far a great way to get your hands on thousands of dollars worth of free EBooks, software, and scripts. Here are a few tips that I would like to share with you regarding giveaways.

2)Look for freebie items that include resell rights. In a

nutshell, resell rights mean you have the right and opportunity to sell that product to others or thus meaning your prospects. By finding and picking up some great products with resell rights, not only can you learn from the products, you grow from the beneficial information contained in the product and then you can resell it to others as well and keep 100% of the profits. Just a little note! If you decide to resell the product, I strongly recommend sticking to high quality products, especially products that you would be willing to purchase yourself.

3)Find the items that will help you immediately. A majority of us are usually looking for specific information or tools to help us build our list and to build and grow our online business. I totally recommend that you look for items that

Continued on page 26 PAGE 12 • June, 2012 • Moms In Business Magazine

Moms Making A Million

Helping One Million Moms Creat a Path To One Million Dollars in Personal Net Worth One Million Dreams, One Million Moms, One Million Dollars

have a list of things that you must do daily as part of your role. You will find that not all the things you do create the same amount of the value. There are some activities that create high value while some activities are low in value. In fact, I have discovered that for most average income earners, they only spend 20% of their workday doing truly high value creation activities while they spend 80% of their time on low value activities like checking email, attending unproductive meetings, chit chatting, complaining, waiting, finding lost item, stuff that does not generate profits or help clients meet their goals.

Creating Value with Your Time

By Adam Khoo

esides taking steps too increase your value, you must also increase the time you spend creating value to boost your income. If you are self-employed, then you are usually paid by the hour or by the job. So obviously, when you work longer hours and more days, your income will increase! Now you may be saying to me, ‘I am already working 18 hour days! How much harder can I possibly work?’ Or if you are working for somebody else you may be thinking, ‘This does not apply to me. As an employee, my hours of employment are fixed from 9am to 6pm. I do not get paid more for working longer hours.’ Well, when I talk about increasing the time you spend creating value, I do not necessarily mean that you must work longer hours. Rather, you must spend more of your time only on activities that create the greatest value that generate the most profits for your company. Whether you are an entrepreneur or an employee, you will

High-income earners are the opposite. They tend to spend 80% of their time on high value creation activities like business development, closing sales, innovating new revenue streams, marketing strategy, following up with prospects, strategizing on how to improve productivity, managing projects, getting feedback from client, stuff that lead to high customer satisfaction and higher profits! If you can find a way to help people get what they want, they will pay you for it. If you can help your boss or company get what they want (i.e. higher profits), then you will be rewarded for it. Why is Bill Gates the richest man in the world? This is because Gates has created the greatest value in the world. Because of Microsoft products, millions of people have been able to work more efficiently and achieve their personal & business goals. So start keeping track of how you send your time each day and focus more of your time on high value creation activities and your income will increase. Spend your time on high value activities and you will maximize you income, making you a millionaire in no time. Focus on serving people first and give them what they want. When you do that, I can guarantee you that will create a lot of wealth in your life. Create value for others and you will create wealth. Adam Khoo is an entrepreneur, best-selling author and a selfmade millionaire by the age of 26. Discover his million dollar secrets and claim your FREE bonus report ‹Get Out Of The Rat Race Now› at www.SecretsOfSelf-MadeMillionaires.com.

Go to www.MomsMakingaMillion.com for financial information and tools to grow your business. Moms Making a Million is a program of the National Association For Moms In Business Moms In Business Magazine • June 2012 • PAGE 13

Feature

Liza Mundy

By Gina Robison-Billups

The Richer Sex

PAGE 14 • June, 2012 • Moms In Business Magazine

Liza Mundy has been a journalist for more than twenty years, is the author of three successful books and is a sought after speaker around the country. GRB: Liza, we are very excited to have you join us for an interview and welcome you to the Women’s Money program as well. You are a very successful woman as well as mother and we look forward to learning about you and your journey to where you are now. Let’s start by you telling us about your children. LM: Thank you, I am very pleased to have the opportunity to share my story. I have two children: a 16 year old daughter and a 13 year old son. I have always been a working mother, sometimes working “part-time” (four days a week, which felt very much like full time), sometimes from home, sometimes in an office, sometimes both. My husband is an attorney for the U.S. government, so we are very familiar with the daily challenges of balancing work and family life. At the same time, we have found it very rich and rewarding.

writing that column, so lots of the columns were about parenting. This was in the days before mommy and daddy bloggers. I stopped writing that column when my children became old enough to write letters to the editor or to tweet and blog their clarifications and objections. (kidding, kidding.) I’ve written three books, including a best-selling biography of First Lady Michelle Obama; Everything Conceivable, a reported tour of the assisted reproduction industry and the changes it’s bringing to family life; and now, The Richer Sex, looking at women’s economic rise and women’s financial empowerment in relationships. I think that the thing my books have in common is that they look at edgy, controversial topics about people and trends that are pushing boundaries. GRB: What has been the single hardest part of being in this business/career? How did you deal with that? LM: There is a lot of criticism and a lot of rejection in the writing Continued on next page

GRB: Why did you take the path of journalism and becoming a writer? LM: I’ve wanted to be a writer since high school, but of course there is no degree program or accreditation you can get to ensure that happens. You just have to work and work at it. Getting started in journalism has never been easy; I started out as an editor at a small alternative weekly publication in Washington, D.C, called the Washington City Paper. I also did a lot of reporting and writing while I was there, and had a boss and editor--Jack Shafer, now at Bloomberg--from whom I learned an enormous amount about writing and reporting and thinking. From there, I went to the Washington Post as an editor at the paper’s Sunday magazine, and after a couple of years, I flipped from being an editor to being a writer. For a number of years, I also wrote a column called Post Modern, looking at any number of topics of modern life including work and family life. My children were little when I started

Continued on page 20 Moms In Business Magazine • June 2012 • PAGE 15

Feature business. Also, you have to learn to be patient with your own early attempts at writing, and keep working at whatever you are writing until it gets better. You just have to get up every day and try again, to make it clear and stronger and more articulate, as is the case in so many professions and endeavors. GRB: What’s your greatest achievement (or what are you most proud of personally and professionally)? LM: Being the mother of two amazing children. I tell them that when I was pregnant, I didn’t care what gender the baby might turn out to be - just that he/she would have a sense of humor. Of course, I’m kidding, but actually, I’m not. And it worked! They are both very funny - In a good way. GRB: What’s on the horizon for you and your business? LM: More books, I hope: more interesting reporting and more mornings spent getting up and starting to write. GRB: How do you manage it all? (work/life balance tips, etc) LM: I can’t really remember how I managed it all. It’s a blur. Each stage of working/parenting has its own unique challenges. When children are little, the challenges in some ways are logistic: getting everybody up and fed, getting them off to school, getting to work, getting home, producing a meal, supervising homework, etc. When they are teenagers, the challenges are more psychological: encouraging, supervising, and listening. But as one parent I interviewed for the Richer Sex put it: each stage of parenting has its own glories. And that is so true. I have enjoyed parenting at every stage of the process, and have enjoyed working, too. GRB: What advice do you have for other moms in business?

PAGE 16 • June, 2012 • Moms In Business Magazine

LM: As for advice, I definitely fall into the “let little things slide” camp. This means that I have turned in more than my fair share of late permission slips, and lost a fair number, too. I do believe in eating dinner together, whenever possible. GRB: Have you experienced gender bias? If so, how? LM: Definitely, when I was starting out there were jobs I didn’t get because (I think) of my gender, at publications that did not have a track record of hiring women. I can still get mad, thinking about them, in retrospect. I’ve seen examples of female employees not being paid what they should be, though I don’t think I’ve experienced pay discrimination myself. And I’ve certainly struggled to attune organizations to the needs of working parents and have seen many women-and men--try to get more flexible and sane and humane work schedules, with varying results. Overall it’s my impression, though, that there is much less biased now than there used to be, and that things have steadily gotten better for women in the workplace. Not perfect, but better. GRB: Do you have a “breaking the glass ceiling” moment of your career? LM: I don’t know about any single moment. Just a constant, steady battering! GRB: Who has been your greatest inspiration? LM: The women I work with. All the terrific editors I’ve had the pleasure of being made better by. GRB: Thank you Liza for sharing your story with Moms In Business magazine.

Continued on page 28 Moms In Business Magazine • June 2012 • PAGE 17

STANDOUT

Hiring: Moms

A Place for Moms to Find Great Jobs A Place for Companies to Find Great Moms

Resume Mistakes that Could Cost You the Job

By Kimberly Ben

ou’ve probably heard the saying: “Looking for a job is a full-time job.” That’s pretty accurate. In a rocky job market, it can take quite a bit of effort to find gainful employment. Your first order of business is making sure that your resume is in order. When preparing your resume avoid the top four mistakes that could get in your way of finding the perfect job.

Not Narrowly Focusing Your Resume

Most job seekers have skill that could easily translate over into different industries like for example: sales, marketing or operations management. They don’t want to miss out on a job opportunity so they create a resume that’s very broad and general. The problem is this will not help you stand out from other job applicants, and it will not support your qualifications for a specific job opportunity. When you send in your resume to apply for a job, it needs to show that you meet the employer’s specific qualifications; otherwise it could get tossed into the slush pile.

Opening with a Career Objective

T his is an “old school” resume-writing tactic. Objectives are reserved for those graduating and entering the workforce for the first time. Once you have a little experience under your belt, you want to provide potential employers with more targeted information about your experience, competencies and pretty much sell yourself as the best person for the job.

PAGE 18 • June, 2012 • Moms In Business Magazine

Including a career summary at the beginning of the resume is a great way to accomplish and really attract interest. Instead of telling an employer what you’re looking of in a company, your career summary lets them know how they can benefit by hiring you to work for their organization.

ot Showing Your Key N Achievements

This is probably the most common resume mistake. Job seekers spend more time describing their day-to-day duties and responsibilities. This is important information, but employers also want to know: “What’s in it for me if I hire you?” The best way to show them is by detailing what you’ve done for companies in your previous positions. List your key achievements for each job. Show exactly how you helped each company improve in some way. For example, maybe you reduced annual costs by 76%. Or perhaps you implemented staffing initiative that resulted in reduced staff turnover by 48%. You don’t have to include metric, but the achievements you provide need to be measurable in some way to show your true value.

“What’s in it for me if I hire you?”

Not Proofreading Carefully

our resume can be perfectly formatted, but if it Y contains the slightest error, it could cost you a chance at your dream job. Mistakes can be perceived by employers as sloppy. Your resume is an employer’s first impression of you. You don’t want mistakes to give the impression that you’re sloppy or lazy.

When you complete your resume, step away for a couple of hours and return to review it with fresh eyes. If you’ve been working on it for two hours straight, you’re less likely to catch careless errors. After you proofread it, proof read it again. If you can, ask a friend to proofread it for you. Two eyes are better than one. A professional resume writer, Kimberly Ben can create an employerfocused career document designed to get you noticed. Find out how professional resume writing services can give you an edge against the competition in your job search. Visit: http://www. TopResumeWriting.com. Looking for a great job? Looking for great people? If you are, then participate in the (beta) HiringMoms.com program from the National Association For Moms In Business. Moms In Business Magazine • June 2012 • PAGE 19

STANDOUT

Market Without Money Powered By: Market Your Business Without Money How do you grow your business without breaking the bank? Creativity, Ingenuity, and Resources are the answer.

Get More of Those Elusive

“Passive Backlinks” for Better Pagerank and More Targeted Traffic.

By Tim Brown

ost often you won’t even know about them until you check your logs and see traffic coming from them, but there are two massive advantages to having them: 1. Search engines love passive backlinks. Why? Because they can trust them. They show that a webmaster found your website useful enough to link to it without any ulterior motives, other than providing some service to his own visitors.

Here’s the ‘secret’:

Useful content gets linked, products don’t. Let’s say you have an online store that caters to dog owners. You sell dog toys, grooming supplies, medications and training videos... unless you are running an affiliate program, what reason would the average webmaster have to link to your website? You may get a few links from online guides or directories, but that’s about it.

2. Web-surfers are much more likely to follow a backlink to your website simply because they appear in the content and not on a ‘Links’ page. The most common use of these types A passive backlink is simply of links is in some form of editorial, a a non-reciprocal link to your discussion on a blog, or in a review of website that you didn’t ask some kind. That kind of exposure is Golden today, and it will be priceless tomorrow, because one-way links are steadily growing in importance for page rank.

for, didn’t pay for and didn’t link-swap for.

If you want to get other webmasters to give you passive backlinks, you really only have one option -- you must transform your website into a resource that is link-worthy. The best way to do that is to publish a lot of content that is relevant to your topic. For a website selling dog supplies you could have training & health articles, breed information, a directory of breeders & kennels and so on.

You can buy passive one-way links, but if you are unwilling to pay for (and keep track of) something like that, there are ways to get them almost automatically - IF your website is link-worthy.

Add a good internal search function and you have a useful resource that is a hundred times more link-worthy than just a storefront for dog supplies.

But what makes a website link-worthy?

In many ways, the internet is just a gigantic library, with each ‘section’ on it’s own shelf. With enough useful, relevant content you can dominate your shelf.

The most linked-to websites are the most useful websites. They provide authoritative, quality content on a specific subject, and the writer is often considered an authority on that subject. Most websites simply do not have the kind of relevant content that would make them a useful resource. A resource that other webmasters are willing, even eager, to link to. PAGE 20 • June, 2012 • Moms In Business Magazine

But where does all that content come from? Add relevant content with articles.

If you choose to add an archive of articles, you can write your own, hire a ghostwriter or reprint articles from other authors.

There are pros and cons to each approach.

Two other ways to get non-reciprocal links:

Writing your own articles can identify you as an expert in your field and creates unique content. Using ghostwriters can do much the same, and reprinting other’s articles can add a lot of relevant content in a very short time.

When you are writing articles specifically for reprinting, you can stray into any topic you wish, and each one that gets published on another website is at least one passive backlinks for you.

On the downside, writing your own articles takes time and skills you may not feel that you possess. (I believe that most anyone can write about their favorite topic, and if your website has nothing to do with your favorite topic, you really should re-consider your choices.) Ghostwriters want to be paid, and reprinting someone else’s articles does not offer much in the way of unique content.

Add content with a directory of resources. Creating a useful directory of relevant resources can take a lot of time. It should contain unique content, so you really cannot automate it. On the other hand, it gives you the opportunity to add editorial content that others may find useful. Some of the most-visited websites are little more than editorialized directories with only a small fraction of paying content... Expedia. com and PriceGrabber.com both started out as human-edited directories with nothing but a bunch of reviewed links. Your directory can take the general form of a ‘Links’ directory -- but you add a paragraph or a page of your own reviews or comments to each link. If you put each one on it’s own page and let your visitors add their own comments it will grow without your input.

...and that brings us to:

Letting your visitors add relevant content. Another very popular way to generate useful content is to simply let your visitors do it via an online community of some sort. Do that with forums, or allow your visitors to post comments to your reviews. It may require some special scripting, but your web host may already have that option available. The benefit is that your users can add a ton of content to your website even while you sleep. Two great examples of that approach are babiesonline.com and iVillage.com; they have huge communities of users. Although I should point out that they have been at it for years.

Write articles for others to reprint.

The most important thing, though, is to require that any reprinting be linked to your website with the resource info at the end and/ or links in the body of the article. Note: If you make your articles available for reprinting and put them on your own website, edit them enough so that your content is different from the reprints on the other websites. Get others to use the edited copy simply by making it easier to do that than it is to copy your page. Provide HTML formatted, copy/paste ready copies in a textbox or on an autoresponder. In your page code, remove all spacing and/or embed encrypted advertising links in your HTML to make it more work to copy. Use your reciprocal-link program to get one-way links. This is kind of a dirty trick, but if you have an active link-trade system going, you can use it to increase your one-way inbound links simply by requiring others to link to you before you even consider returning the favor... and there is no reason to link to everyone who asks for it. It’s important to remember that you are not required to link to anybody, no matter how your link-trade program is set up. You won’t get much traffic from this trick, but the search engines will find some of those links and you’ll get a little page rank out of it. All the above will work for the vast majority of websites... the main thing to remember is that no matter what your theme is, the more information you offer the better. Virtually anybody can add useful, relevant content, increase their value, and add a sense of community -- and all of it will help sell your product or service. Once you have improved the quality and increased the quantity of your website content, other webmasters will be more willing and, yes, even eager to link to it. You’ll get more traffic, profits will go up, and that will make all the effort worthwhile. To Your Success! Tim

One more thing that will work for some websites: Add Something Fun & Interactive.

This may be more appropriate under the heading of: ‘Make your website more sticky’, but I thought I’d bring it up for those who are running a general entertainment website.

A review of such content providers is beyond the scope of this article, but I would like to put in a good word for the trivia, brainteasers & IQ tests available from Puzz.com, like all such free services they do add third-party advertising in their content, but unlike most, it is relatively unobtrusive.

Visit www.MarketWithoutMoney.com, providing marketing resources, tools and training that keeps more money in your wallet while still getting great results. Moms In Business Magazine • June 2012 • PAGE 21

STANDOUT

Marketing2Moms

The #1 Resource and Information Center for Marketing to Moms

Do You Know What Women Really Want? By Ann Williamson

arketing wisdom tells us that 80 percent of all household purchases are made by women, and no business owner should ignore them. Marketers of kids gear, food, cosmetics and clothes are good at reaching women, but women buy gender-neutral stuff too, like cars, auto services, technology and just about everything except Viagra. Yankelovich marketing consulting firm reports that 60 percent of women 16 and older are working. They comprise over half of all college students and about 38 percent of small business owners according to the 2002 figures of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A February 2002 study by Prudential Financial found that of 400 American women surveyed, 37 percent live in households with incomes of $50,000 - $100,000, and 12 percent were in the $100,000 annual income range. No business owner can afford to ignore this market, but not ignoring women is not the same as attracting them. PAGE 22 â&#x20AC;˘ June, 2012 â&#x20AC;˘ Moms In Business Magazine

Attracting mothers/women is not the same as winning their loyalty, either. There is definitely a difference in dealing with women because they notice the small stuff. While men tend to make judgments based on first impressions and key interactions, women never stop gathering information. Women develop a collage of impressions about a business from a hundred small factors, everything from its cleanliness to the design of the shopping bag. Smart business owners turn this to their advantage by investing in small amenities women and mothers can appreciate. Many young women today are much wiser than the boomers were at the same age. They have traveled widely and are accomplished and picky consumers. The key to winning the loyalty of women shoppers and your share of this market is to offer carefully selected choices rather than a plethora of everything from A to Z. That overwhelms them Eileen Fisher, designer of womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s clothes says. She adopted this strategy and offers simple clothes in a limited palette. Furniture stores such as Storehouse Furniture in Atlanta have pared their selections to an: everything-goes with

everything-else array. Even house paint companies are adhering to this strategy of paring down and offering carefully selected choices.

guide the customer and answer questions they have good to unequaled repeat business from women.

Andy Andre, the owner of Prescott The key to Arizona True Value store has learned that customer service winning the loyalty of is respect. It is taking the women shoppers and your time to explain things to a customer and not talk share of this market is to offer down to them, he says. carefully selected choices Entrepreneurs assume that marketing to women rather than a plethora of is all about discounts and giveaways, but care and everything from creativity is what really attracts women. If a man is ignored by a A to Z. sales clerk, he thinks, what a jerk. A

Look! Women have so many work and family responsibilities they do not have time to research and ponder every buying decision. They also are not trying to impress their friends by having the most toys. While a man may want 16 different size screwdrivers in his toolbox, you show a woman a tool with 16 interchangeable heads and she will buy it. Now she has one instrument, which takes up less room but accomplishes the same thing, costs less in the end, and does the same job.

Whether buying for themselves or for the business they own or manage, women make final purchasing decisions based on the relationship with the seller, not on statistics and voluminous data. Given a choice on two nearly identical products, women will choose based on customer service and relationship with the vendor. Men want to buy the product and leave, while women want to know how it works. Prescott True Value in Arizona has a loyal following of women running households on their own due to divorce or widowhood. By having enough staff to

woman will think, I hate this company. It is the small things, good and bad, that make the impact on women customers. Learn this, and you have got a handle on your share of a growing niche.

Ann Williamson. Visit Ann for a business that caters to women: www.marykay.com/awilliamson90.

www.Marketing2Moms.com, a program of the National Association for Moms In Business, is leading the charge to affordably and effectively help members more effectively market to the #1 consumer in America. Moms In Business Magazine â&#x20AC;˘ June 2012 â&#x20AC;˘ PAGE 23

STANDOUT

B2B Moms

Bringing Business Buyers 2gether with Business Moms: Building Relationships 2 Build Your Business

Use Joint Venture Partners

joint venture partner, or strategic partner, is sometimes overlooked as money for starting a business. What is a strategic or joint venture partnership? It’s when two companies combine efforts to obtain a goal that would be difficult for either one of them to achieve individually. If you’re thinking about small business financing consider joint venture partners. For example: You may have the product and the other company the distribution system in place to reach potential customers. If you jointly market the product, both of you win. You don’t have to fund the costs of reaching the potential customers; the other company can broaden its product offering, and therefore value, to its customers by offering your product. That company doesn’t have to fund the research and development costs of a new product.

that provides the injection molded plastic components would charge a hefty fee to build the custom equipment, and also charge you for every part produced. A strategic partnership might mean that in exchange for not paying for the custom equipment up front, you will pay the plastics company a small fee, similar to a royalty on your sales for a limited time period. You win, because you don’t have to invest cash in equipment and the plastics company wins by having a revenue stream greater than the custom equipment would generate.

...two companies combine efforts to obtain a goal that would be difficult for either one of them to achieve individually...

Another example: You have a product that requires injection molded plastic components that are produced by expensive specialized custom equipment. Normally a company

PAGE 24 • June, 2012 • Moms In Business Magazine

One more example: Your product has customers in several different markets and can be used for several different purposes. Let’s say it’s a new kind of applicator for creams, lotions, soap, and medications. Another company has a lotion for the treatment of skin irritations available by prescription only. You sell the exclusive rights to use your product to apply prescription lotions to that company. Since you have several other major markets for your product, giving up Continued on page 26

NOW

Events

June, 2012 Sun 3

Mon 4

Tue 5

-LAS VEGAS, -Marketing Your NV- Business Business Without Plan Assesment Money (Evening Session)

-NEVADA -15 wk Microenterprise CourseHenderson, NV -My Business Action Plan -My Business Action Plan -My Business Action Plan -My Business Action Plan

Wed

-Marketing Your Business Without Money

-Marketing Your -My Business Business Without Action Plan Money -My Business Action Plan -My Business Action Plan

Fri 1 8

Sat 2 9 -LAS VEGAS, NV- Business Plan Assesment (Evening Session)

-My Business Action Plan

-LAS VEGAS, NV- Business Plan Assesment (Evening Session)

-My Business Action Plan

-LAS VEGAS, NV- Business Plan Assesment (Evening Session) -My Business Action Plan -My Business Action Plan -My Business Action Plan

-Marketing Your -NEVADA -15 wk Business Without Microenterprise Money CourseHenderson, NV -My Business Action Plan 17

Thu

-LAS VEGAS, NV- Business Plan Assesment (Evening Session)

For more information go to EVENTS at www.MIBN.org

Moms In Business Magazine • June 2012 • PAGE 25

Continued from page 12

Continued from page 24

Building Your Online Business Using

Giveaways

Use Joint Venture Partners

know will help you right away as well as to ignore items that “might” be of use to you down the road. Here’s an example: Let’s suppose you’re interested in setting up your own blog, but your not really sure how to. Try to find some EBooks or video related tutorials that will assist you in setting up your blog immediately, instead of saving that beneficial information in a directory. Do yourself a favor and save it to your desktop. Doing this will remind you to actually open the file and use it. Remember this phrase, “out of sight, out of mind.”

4)Find EBooks and other products that have been

produced by someone you respect and trust. Our time is valuable and there is plenty of information out there. I spend a majority of my time learning from people I already respect, know, like, and trust or from people they recommend.

5)Consider becoming a gift contributor. Once you have

gotten your online business up and running and you’ve already built a list of subscribers, I highly recommend that you consider becoming a contributor. It will obviously take a little work on your part, but it’s something that I strongly recommend you doing since giveaways really are a great way to build your list. One thing you should note! Giveaways are usually by invitation only and you’ll be expected to promote the giveaway to your list. I look forward to seeing your success online!

one, the application of prescription lotions, won’t have a material effect on your future, and you get much needed cash now. The other company now has a product that helps in its brand identification and sales. One last example: You have a customer database that has been successful in selling your products. You offer a company that has similar, but not competitive, products the usage of your database in exchange for a percentage of the sales generated. To find a potential joint venture partner look in your industry trade journals for announcements. Search business newspapers like the Business Journal. Look for companies that provide complementary products or services to your own company, or those in a market that would be appropriate for your products. Attend trade shows. And of course search the web. If you are looking for small business financing consider a joint venture partner.

Philip J. Mutrie - CEO and Founder of Extreme Wealth Potentials invites you to visit www.52OnlineBusinessTips. com, where you can receive 52 weeks (one per week) of personal mentoring via audio postcards. You can also subscribe to my free course with over an hour long of training by visiting http://www.ExtremeWealthStrategies.com.

FREE business plan format http://www.capital-connection. com/freestuff.html Dee Power is the author of several nonfiction books. She writes on the subjects of how to repair bad credit http://www.58waystofindmoney.com and How to Write a Business Plan.

The Leading Giveaway Resouce site: www.GiveawayConnection.com. Tons of Tools and Benefits

For business to business articles, tools, resources and events visit: www.B2BMoms.com.

PAGE 26 • June, 2012 • Moms In Business Magazine

Bits ‘n Pieces

What Is A Dad? A Dad is a person who i s l o v i n g a n d k i n d , And often he knows what y o u h a v e o n y o u r m i n d . He’s s o m e o n e w h o l i s t e n s , sugg e s t s , a n d d e f e n d s ~ A dad can be one of yo u r v e r y b e s t f r i e n d s ! He’s p r o u d o f y o u r t r i u m p h s , but w h e n t h i n g s g o w r o n g , A dad can be patient and h e l p f u l a n d s t r o n g . In all that you do, a dad ’s l o v e p l a y s a p a r t ~ There’s a l w a y s a p l a c e f o r h i m deep in your heart. And e a c h y e a r t h a t p a s s e s , you ’ r e e v e n m o r e g l a d , Mor e g r a t e f u l a n d p r o u d just t o c a l l h i m y o u r d a d ! Thank you, Dad ... for l i s t e n i n g a n d c a r i n g , for g i v i n g a n d s h a r i n g , but, espe c i a l l y, f o r j u s t b e i n g y o u ! H a p p y F a t h e r ’s D a y

Author Unknown

Founder Gina Robison-Billups Editor Design/Layout Eugenia Martini-Jarrett Eugenia@MIBN.org Advertising: Debbie Donaldson Debbie@sunspark.com Published by NAFMIB, the National Association for Moms In Business. The Leading National Association Representing Executive, Entrepreneur and CEO Moms MIBN.org, NAFMIB.org Copyright 2012, © International Association of Working Mothers See www.MIBN.org for full copyright page All Rights Reserved

Moms In Business Magazine • June 2012 • PAGE 27