The Women Entrepreneurs Blog @ Simon

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:

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.

Social Media Works: Try It!

I expect all of you are as worried about finances and the economy as I am. Everyone is counting pennies and wondering what tomorrow will bring. I can't make predictions about tomorrow - I'll let the financial pundits and the politicians do that. What I can do is give you some advice on how to help market your business online, and not overspend.

Use blogs. Use Twitter. Use the connections you can make via social media, strong connections to people who will share good advice for free, and offer their help, for free, and guide you on which platform to use, the one that will work best for you.

According to Dr. Tracy L. Tuten, author of the new book Advertising 2.0: Social Media Marketing in a Web 2.0 World, "In a Web 2.0 world, we have the opportunity to develop advertising that is engaging, entertaining, informative, fun, credible, different - advertising consumers invite into their lives."

I believe (have not completely finished the book, yet) that she is talking about blogs and Twitter and the kinds of online connections that build real relationships. Relationships that move from online to offline... that connect real people to real people, and start conversations about life, liberty, business, kids, Moms, Dads, and pets...among many other topics.

Surviving the First Four Years: A story of taxes

I'll be celebrating my fourth year as Windsor Media Enterprises, soon. Before that, I was Windsor Enterprises. That's one of the surprises that occurs when you open your own business, sometimes. I was doing SEO (search engine optimization) and web content writing as Windsor Media, then wanted to become and LLC but...the name "Windsor Media" was taken. I could not be Windsor Enterprises, LLC.

Luckily, I had a great lawyer and she suggested I add the word "media" to my name, since that's really what my company is about - using new media effectively. Maybe I should have added "new" to the name, also, but I didn't. I became Windsor Media Enterprises, LLC and I was happy. In fact, I secured an SBA loan, and I was truly in business, then!

Gen X Entrepreneurs Moving Up in Growth

In my other blog I write about marketing to women online. That's been a passion of mine for almost 10 years, and when you're talking about the Internet, 10 years is a really long time.

Back when I first started paying attention to the whole marketing to women issues, most marketing was aimed at men (much of it still is) and certainly the online venues were focused on men. With my blog at Lip-sticking, I help small business owners embrace marketing to women. That's a prime reason I'm involved with this blog. (also, because I manage it and my company built it; to be open and honest)

Recently, I was sent some information on baby boomers and Gen X women and their forays into entrepreneurship. I thought the stats and details were interesting enough to share here. The survey mentioned came from Make Mine a Million, a site that helps women start and/or move their business forward.

The Entrepreneurial Game - Isn't a Game, At All

In the game of life there are a number of crossroads - where you have an opportunity to make changes. In Milton Bradley's version of the Game of Life, you get to use play money, and buy property, and get lucky. It's a fun pasttime for a rainy summer afternoon, but it bears no resemblance to real life.

If you're contemplating the idea of becoming an entrepreneur (and I know quite a few women in this mindset right now), there are some valuable places online for advice. This blog is, of course, one of them. The women here have been there, done that, got the T-shirt.

When I decided to step off the beaten path of employment, I didn't imagine starting my own company. I merely expected to freelance for the rest of my life, making enough to get by. My goal was to be independent...and not have to answer to a boss that neither understood me, or cared about me.

Now that I have my own business, Windsor Media Enterprises, and we're in a redesign of our website to accommodate the changes in our business, I realize that I was on the path to being an entrepreneur, all along. Perhaps you're standing there at the crossroads of your life - looking one way, then the other. Perhaps you're curious about what lies down Path #1... on your left. Perhaps you're intrigued by the colorful landscape of Path #2, on your right. If Path #3, directly in front of you, is beckoning with promise of independence and riches, maybe that's where you should go.

If this is you - with your toes on the verge of leading you into the unknown, please do not choose Path #0... directly behind you. Do not go back. Go forward. Here's how...

Women's Rights National Historic Park

As the country continues to follow the emerging political campaigns of Obama and McCain, and Hillary Clinton returns to her "regular" job, I can't help but think about women's rights and the hard times the suffragists went through to guarantee women the right to vote.

This is especially poignant when I realize - being reminded by an article in our local Democrat and Chronicle newspaper on Saturday, July 19th - that we have just passed a milestone: this year was the 160th Anniversary of the first womens' rights convention, held at Seneca Falls, NY.

What an exciting day that must have been! Exciting and fearful, at the same time. As the article in the newspaper stated, the 300 women (and some men) gathered at the chapel in Seneca Falls were not hesitate to demonstrate "how aggrieved, oppressed and fraudulently deprived of their most sacred rights" they were.

The only choice was to declare a call for action - on behalf of equal treatment, under the law. And they called it the Declaration of Sentiments whereas - "all men and women are created equal."

Entrepreneurship Goes Global

I was inspired by this post over at Unleashing Ideas, the blog supporting Global Entrepreneurship Week (it's in November...click over and learn all about it; you won't be sorry!)..."There is No 'I' In Entrepreneur" and I thought I should write something about the whole concept of being an entrepreneur.

Let's all agree, or not, that the concept of being an entrepreneur is one of challenge, excitement, risk, and mystery. Too often we focus on the "risk"...because starting a company, going out on your own, being a true small business owner is bursting with risk. How do you finance the venture - especially if friends and family are not in a position to invest? How do you find office space - or, do you even need office space? How do you begin...beyond thinking up that really great idea?

Well, there are other more talented women who write in this blog who may address those questions...what I want to talk about is the challenge, the excitment and the mystery.

Women Entrepreneurs: A Likely Group of High Achievers

Just the other day my partner, Tom, sent me a link to an article about the myths of being a woman entrepreneur. I'm sure all of the outstanding women who contribute to this blog can see themselves in that article, as I see myself in it.

Here are some key points the writer, Margaret Heffernan, makes in her "5 Myths About Women Entrepreneurs" for the Boomer: Lifestyle section of MSN.

First, she notes that not all women entrepreneurs are 'young.' That's a touchy word with women - especially today since we women over 40 still think of ourselves as young and... 40 is the new 30, right? Still, many new businesses are being started today by women who are either retired from corporate America, or just ready and eager to do something new and exciting with their lives. In the article, Heffernan showcases a woman of 67 - who didn't let that number connected to her birth certificate keep her from starting a new business!

Heffernan's #3 Myth-busting piece of advice is that you DON'T have to be an expert. I found this one very telling as I would have thought expertise was crucial to successful entrepreneurship. However, as Heffernan says of her example (a woman named Fisher who knew nothing about sewing but started a women's clothing business, anyway), "What Fisher did have was the insight that as women's lives got more complicated, they would want their clothes to be simpler." She also notes something I tell people all the time over at my marketing to women blog, "Women are responsible for 83% of consumer purchasing. We are the ones buying not only for ourselves but also for our children, husbands, and parents."

It speaks to the realization that what you don't know, you can learn. Believe it.

This is an excellent article for all students of entrepreneurship. This is an excellent article for young women in high school - a true demonstration of the "can-do" spirit we call entrepreneurship. The other points Heffernan makes will rock your socks off.

(the article was originally published in MORE magazine, July/August 2007)