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Five Excellent Resources for Women Entrepreneurs

Source: Startup Nation

Listed are resources for women who have a desire to connect with, support and learn from other emerging and established female business owners. 

National Association of Women Business Owners – A premier organization for women entrepreneurs.

eWomenNetwork – All about networking

Center for Women’s Business Research – Helps build your case when seeking financing, government contracts or support.

Principal Financial Group Free Teleclasses for Women Entrepreneurs – For-women-by-women teleclasses cover topics such as negotiating tactics, client service, motivating employees and goal setting. 

Make Mine a Million Business – The sole goal of this organization is to help women-owned businesses pass the million-dollar mark.

Read more details at Startup Nation.

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Investing in – shoes?

Source: Naples News . com

A few of us were having a conversation in one of the restaurants at Waterside Shops, when the topic of shoes stepped forward.

Lisa is a tall, smart, pulchritudinous blonde who’s in the high-end retail clothing business. Clothes and accessories are integral to her life. In an introspective mood, having just turned 30, Lisa concluded that in three decades, she had accomplished little except having a good shoe collection.

“I’m good at investing in shoes” she said.

Being a supportive person, I complimented her on her achievement and asked if she would start on handbags next.

“That market is way out of my league. Prices are too high.”

Hmmm, like Google stock?

More …

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“85 Broads” Invests In Women

Source: CBS Evening News
February 12, 2007

(CBS) “When somebody says, ‘Well, what do you invest in?’ I could say, ‘Well, you know, I own stocks or bonds or mutual funds,’ but I say that I have invested in other women,” Janet Hanson says.

Hanson knows a good investment when she sees one, CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric reports. For fourteen years, she worked at the Wall Street powerhouse Goldman Sachs, and became the firm’s first female sales manager and eventually, vice president. But when Hanson quit to be a stay-at-home mom, she realized she was missing a lot more than her six-figure salary.

“I felt really cut off. And I felt a horrible sense of disconnection,” she says, adding that she got very depressed.  “And so I made a little promise to myself that if I ever kind of got it together, that I would start a network so that this didn’t happen to other women,” Hanson says. 

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Women Entrepreneurs and Risk

This article is was written for women, however its conclusion applies to all.  “When we stop looking at ambition and risk as an enemy of life balance and see it instead as a way to achieve it, then perhaps we’ll be ready to start thinking big.”

 

Kristi Hedges
Entrepreneur . com

A thought-provoking Harvard Business Review article I once read by Anna Fels asked “Do women lack ambition?” It found that women pursue their goals only after they’ve satisfied the needs of their family, including caring for children and elderly parents. It also found that women underestimate their abilities (while their male counterparts overestimate them) and are therefore less likely to pursue lofty career goals.

Here’s what else studies repeatedly show us:

  • Only 1.8 percent of women-owned businesses in the U.S. have revenues above $1 million per year, according to the SBA.
  • Women lag behind men in their willingness to seek bank financing for their ventures.
  • Women are far less likely to receive venture capital. In my own experience, I’ve only seen two women receive it, and one was replaced shortly after the check cleared.

Whether or not you buy any of this–and certainly there are always exceptions–the fact remains that female entrepreneurs are less likely to take the big risks to get the big rewards.

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Learn to Be a Rich Woman

Robert Kiyosaki, the best selling author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, is well known to anyone who has visited the personal finance section in any bookstore.  The shelves are typically full of his books.  Kiyosaki has come under great criticism over the last few years particularly from John T. Reed who has challenged many of his claims.  After reading Reed’s critique, I tend to agree with many of his points.  However, I believe that if you are just starting your quest for financial freedom – Rich Dad Poor Dad is not a bad place to start.  Just understand that you will need to read many more books from many different authors to build your knowledge base.  Then most importantly you will need to test a few theories to see if it works for you. 

Before I digress too much,  Kiyosaki’s wife, Kim, has written a book Rich Woman: A Book for investing for Woman.  She recently conducted an interview that I thought would be of interest to our women readers.

Continue reading “Learn to Be a Rich Woman”