The Original Corporate Refugee

by Nancy Chorpenning

Throughout my career, one of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned that has become my mantra is to “NEVER underestimate the Power of a Circle of Women.” I believe this adage applies to women across the board, including women in franchising.

While we are a group on the rise, we are still only about a third of the owners in the franchise space, and we need each other’s support. There is PLENTY of success for all! And it’s grand that women tend to be naturally more “abundance” than “scarcity” based.

During the first 20 years of my career, I was “the first woman everything” in professional medical publishing. I excelled working with our famous physician authors and became the youngest acquisitions editor in the industry. (Never mind that I hadn’t even known there WAS such an industry when I began…)

As I became proficient in my field and built successful relationships with some of the most prominent MDs in the world, the professional publishing world was undergoing a disturbing trend. Successful divisions were being divested as fast as I could build them. I called it the “Bain-ization” of America, where investors buy a company and sell off the component parts to benefit top management with little attention to its employees, the community, its customers or, in our case, our authors.

After this happened to me personally for the THIRD time, I decided I needed time to rethink my career and my future. A LONG time. So, I joined Peace Corps and moved to Papua New Guinea for two years. That’s a story for another time.

Upon my return, I was invited to help start up one of the most successful dotcoms of all time, WebMD. What a remarkable experience! I was there from day one for six years (measured in “dog years”) and learned tons, as it was my first startup. But when our original vision shifted from making a difference to patients and caregivers to making money for a small group of investors, I ejected from Corporate America for the second and final time.

That is when I started my first business on my own. C-Suite Advisors launched in January 2006 and remains our corporate identity. The business that started then bears absolutely no resemblance to my current business today. And that is a good thing!

I started C-Suite Advisors as a business consulting practice “to help small business owners do business planning.” (Did I mention that I’m a planning geek?) Other than my complete and total ignorance about what “small businesses” were or what their owners wanted or how to address their pains and challenges it went well! (HA!)

One of my first steps was to join the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), an established and prominent membership organization that supports the interests of women owners across every industry. (Again, a story for another time…)

My NAWBO sisters allowed me to “learn all over them.” And I came to understand that I work better and prefer working with women, especially with those of “a certain age.” Turns out that my journey through the early days of women in Corporate America held experiences and teachings that were and are valuable to women entrepreneurs. The playing field for us is, sadly, as unequal as it was in the corporate world.

When I started my business, I didn’t know what I didn’t know. Have you ever felt like that? Because I couldn’t find the resources I specifically needed to start and grow successfully, I created the program I wished I’d had: CEO School for Women™ a (now) Virtual Learning Community for Women Entrepreneurs.

My whole career has involved education. My business now focuses entirely on other women entrepreneurs. And now I get to support my sisters by mentoring and guiding them around and through the rough spots in a community of terrifically smart business owners.

Our focus is on continual learning, FUN, and peer support.

If you are a woman in franchising and you do NOT have a community of women peers to support you, hold you accountable, learn from you and with you or offer an outsider’s perspective for you and your business, consider making this a top priority for 2022!

I’ll leave you with my mantra once again: “NEVER Underestimate the POWER of a Circle of Women!”

Focusing on the right priorities that will lead to success and build value is critical for business owners. My specialty is working with women entrepreneurs whose businesses are in building and growth stages. Then, as they navigate the challenges of scaling, I help prioritize strategy, structure, staffing, practices, systems and processes. CEO School for Women™ is a curated group that includes online learning to enhance business skills, virtual coaching to share and get feedback strategic issues, and offline retreats to regroup, refresh, and renew. Visit www.ceoschoolforwomen.com to learn more.