The Women Entrepreneurs Blog @ Simon

Web tip of the week - Pick-up the Phone, Get Out of Your Chair and Talk!

"The reason that we have two ears and one mouth is that we may listen more and talk less."
-Zeno Greek philosopher

This is an important concept pertaining to business communication. It is at the core of what is wrong with our growing over reliance on one-dimensional digital communication tools such as email, texts, IMs, Tweets, blogs, etc.  Yes, I believe these are valuable tools to enhance communication. My concern is that they only flow one way; they are open to misinterpretation and they make it easy to avoid creative or difficult face-to-face discussions.  In short, they are not replacements for good old fashioned conversation or dialogue.

The best managers are all great communicators. A strong interpersonal relationship with your employees, suppliers and customers will make you better at your job. Today, the best ideas, the best products and the best companies are the direct outgrowth of collaboration and teamwork that comes from communication.

The next time you start to email the person sitting next to you, get out of your chair and start a conversation instead. There is nothing like it!

Are you ready to Lead?

If you want to remain CEO of your company, leadership skills will be very important. As company head, you must be able to energize employees to produce excellence. But what makes an effective leader? Below, I invite you to read the thoughts of one of my colleagues - Jess Sadick - as he shares his views on the qualities and characteristics of effective leaders.

"Leadership is an important part of our education at Simon. At Orientation, we are invited to attend the Jensen Leadership Seminar and during the academic year the Kalmbach and Farash Lecture Series introduce us to accomplished executives with inspirational personal stories. 

In the classroom, Senior Lecturer in business communication, Dan Struble and the Center for Leadership Development teach us that effective communication is an essential component of leadership, and we complete three quarters of assignments intended to hone our public speaking, writing, and presentation skills.  We are fortunate to have more than a dozen active clubs in which to seek leadership roles.  With all of these experiences, we should be able to define the key qualities of effective leadership.

New Media Women Entrepreneurs

The McCormick Foundation has a great site aimed at women entrepreneurs. Recently they awarded three outstanding women $10,000 each as winners of the New Media Women entrepreneur's contest for innovation and creativity in new media.

The site caught my eye on a recent search in Google to see what's new in this space. I love the dark red background resembling a lip-stick slash (reminiscent of my own marketing to women blog), and the lipstick font used in their title [NMWE]. Very creative and female friendly.

Here are the three winners' blogs:

Web tip of the week – capitalize well

Most often the greatest challenge facing the entrepreneur is a ready source of capital. No doubt you have scoured all of the available sources and have come up short to launch your enterprise.

In today's severe economic environment, borrowing from a commercial bank is going to be even more difficult. It will be hard to secure an uncollateralized loan even if you pledge receivables and inventory. You may have to pledge stock and most likely, sign personally for any loans.

Don't be surprised if your spouse is asked to sign as well and if you have a partner, she/he will be asked to sign personally. A bank note in that form will often permit the bank to pursue either partner to collect on the loan beyond the corporate entity.

In a nutshell, try not to launch the enterprise until you are capitalized to reach specific hurdles.

Make sure you don’t lose the lesson

I run the school magazine – the World According to Simon (WATS) – and let me tell you, “it ain’t no walk in the park.” Don’t get me wrong, I love the magazine to death but producing it definitely isn’t an easy task, especially since we increased frequency from quarterly to monthly. That being said, I wouldn’t change a thing about the experience because it has been so educational from an entrepreneurial perspective. These are some of the lessons I’ve learnt during my time running the magazine:

Choose your team very wisely. These are the people who will support you. They should be excellent at what they do, very committed and complementary to each other. If they aren’t, you will find yourself overburdened with work and putting in longer hours than you expected.  Choosing a great team requires evaluating people on what they bring to the table and forgetting relationships like friends, family, significant other etc. In re-organizing and expanding the WATS team I had to pass over friends who could do a reasonable job for persons who could do an excellent job.

Make sure you have excellent time management skills. There just aren’t enough hours in the day so you better know how to effectively manage the ones you have. I am currently doing three courses, working on this blog, working at the school writing center, managing a magazine, producing a newsletter, helping to run the entrepreneurship club and still working on my business plan. Beyond these duties there are still breakfast, lunch and dinner events to attend as well as guest lectures. Of course you can’t work all the time so I still need to hang out with my friends. My appointment book and Outlook calendar have become my greatest allies. They help me to effectively manage my time so I don’t break commitments left, right and center.

Have a “can do” attitude. Something unexpected will always pop up - someone can’t complete an article on time; someone can’t find the photograph you wanted; someone can’t interview the person you wanted or someone can’t lay out the magazine. As an entrepreneur you’ll have to put out lots of fires so you better think you can handle them. If you don’t, you’ll spend too much time worrying and complaining instead of looking for ways to rectify the situation.

Twitter, Tweet, Twurl: The New Online Connector

If you're like most women who want to become successful at their entrepreneurial venture, you're wondering how to get the most value out of being on the net. That could mean hiring a web designer to design a website (yes, there are web designers who will do this for a reasonable price), or it could mean starting a blog, which can be easy...or not. Depends on your comfort level with web design and HTML.

Or, it could mean...something else.

Here are some options for website creation, if you want to explore that option: GoDaddy - where I recommend you purchase your domain name, or tap into Cazbah (a local site that offers simple design, SEO and marketing) and not break the bank.

Web tip of the Week – "Don’t be afraid to talk about your idea"

In my entrepreneurship class, we often have to get up in front of the entire class and talk about our ideas. You may think it’s absolutely crazy to tell an entire classroom full of people your idea, but it’s really not. These exercises have three great benefits:

• They force you to express your idea very succinctly and communicate it in a way that people can   easily understand. If they aren’t getting it, then maybe it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense or maybe you aren’t quite clear on what you want to do.
• You get to listen to if your idea sounds like the craziest thing in the world. It’s quite easy for things to sound normal in your head but completely insane when they escape your lips.
• You open yourself to getting some great feedback. Telling your ideas to others can help garner some new perspectives that can help you develop your idea even further.

So, next time you’re thinking of holding your idea close to your chest just consider all the great benefits that can be derived from sharing. And for those of you worrying about people stealing your idea remember one thing – ideas are simple, it’s the execution that’s the tough part.

Belonging to the Entrepreneur's Club

You want to be an entrepreneur and wonder if you have what it takes. What it takes is the incredible desire to belong to one of the most dynamic, thrilling and exclusive clubs in the world.

Getting into the club is easy. You have to start a business, any business, and you have to find other organizations with other business owners to introduce you to other business owners. Sounds reasonable, sounds simple. Not so...this club is different from all other clubs. Let me explain.

Like the game of golf, it's easy to get started but it isn't very easy to stay with it and practice the way you should. So, too, with this club.

Anyone can start a business and anyone can meet other business owners, but the real members of the club share some incredible experiences. Conversation is fast and exciting. The learning curve is steep. It's a great place to belong but best of all, the members become mentors to each other. Every member understands and wants to help the other person succeed.

Sure, you think the competition would be out for the kill, but in the entrepreneur's club, every member knows and shares the same world and wants to share their knowledge.  Of course, to be a member you have to accept the pros and cons of the membership...

Does it make sense to brand the CEO?

Some CEO’s are the living embodiment of their brands - think Steve Jobs of Apple fame or Richard Branson of the Virgin Group.  Branson is adventurous and jovial and he isn’t afraid to take Virgin into new, exciting markets; Jobs is charismatic, described as a visionary, and his Apple products are innovative, cutting edge and trendsetting.  Yes, these CEO’s are intrinsically linked to the companies they represent. And as a budding entrepreneur looking at all these high profile business leaders, you too may think you ought to brand yourself along with your company.

Well, in some cases it’s a really great idea, in others, it‘s simply a bad idea. To find out when to consider branding both the CEO and company, I asked public relations expert Marjorie Klein, owner of a successful public relations and media strategy firm, MKlein Communications, “When does it make sense to brand a CEO?”

Tip of the Week - "Build a Strong Culture"

Building a strong culture is important for any business, particularly companies experiencing growth or facing unique challenges.

Dixon Schwabl’s culture focuses on a commitment to the individual employee, by empowering them from “day one” of their career at the agency. Our 75 employees have access to unique benefits, including a “Make It Happen Day” to dedicate to the not-for-profit organization of their choice, Birthdays Off, a new health plan recommended by employees, and profit-sharing. 

The office environment  includes a slide from the second floor to the main lobby, a koi pond with a waterfall, and seasonal decorations—we celebrate everything!  Babies, marriages, promotions, new business—any occasion is a milestone. Our agency rock band “JobOrder” had its debut performance in the main lobby, and Dixon Schwabl’s “Green Team” helped eliminate the use of plastic water bottles and bottled water served at meetings—the team installed a water filter in kitchen, and water is now served in pitchers.

Consider your company culture when you begin to experience the growth that comes with working hard and facing those unique challenges that come with being an entrepreneur.