You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘EWN’ tag.
What I love about events like the EWN Holiday Expo this past Monday night is that I can set up my display then stand still while the crowds move around me. It ran from 6 – 9 pm, and I had nothing to do but (wo)man my booth.
I enjoy meeting business owners who are new to EWN. I also like having the opportunity for a longer discussion with a colleague I’ve known, but had only brief exchanges at previous events. One particularly juicy take-away from that event was a conversation with Jeanne Gnuse of HTG Investment Advisors Inc. We all know what a tough year+ it’s been for that industry. Jeanne has a great track record, but no company went unscathed by this country’s financial debacle.
What delighted me, though, was hearing about a partnership Jeanne forged this year with another EWN member, Barbara Heffernan, a licensed Social Worker. Jeanne invited Barbara into her elegant office space in New Canaan to conduct a series of lunch and learn programs. This was an opportunity for HTG employees to learn how to meditate, how to listen and how to practice more self-care in order to ride out these challenging times.
Because Barbara was so successful in helping Jeanne’s staff in a profound and meaningful way, the company offered sessions with Barbara to her clients as well. It helped the clients to better articulate their feelings about the historic experience they’re involved in currently.
What a brilliant use of our network! You never know who you’re going to be seated next to or how such disparate industries could find a meeting ground so mutually beneficial. How’s that for creativity?
That was the message that stayed with me after hearing Pamela Slim speak yesterday at the EWN meeting–the season opener attended by nearly 100 women (a few guys, too) business owners. She is the author of Escape from Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur. Her message on branding came down to a succinct mantra: Amplify who you really are. And let people know who that is.
Hearing how she went from 3 blog readers to over 20,000 in a period of four years was riveting. One night, she said, she wrote a diatribe to America’s CEOs airing her thoughts about everything that’s wrong with corporate America, then forwarded it to Guy Kawasaki. He asked her to edit her rant to a bulleted list of 10 items, which she did. Guy posted her article on his site and overnight, her readership zoomed to 20,000. Opportunities came pouring in.
So here’s my opinion: Anyone who wants to should work for him/herself. And my top ten reasons to be an entrepreneur:
- It’s one of the greatest freedoms you have in this country
- You have the opportunity to create your own future.
- You get to make as much or as little money as you want/can.
- You have the prospect of bringing the gifts you’ve received to market in whatever form they take.
- You are rewarded for your ingenuity, hard work, conscientiousness, creativity, uniqueness.
- You can change course swiftly and respond to the market conditions.
- You determine with and for whom you want to do business.
- You can become as big as you wish or stay as small as you like.
- You get to choose which 8-18 hours a day you work!
- Your relationship with your boss can be the most gratifying experience in your life.
Guy, are you listening?
I attended a spectacular EWN event last month with over 150 women business owners. The keynote speaker was Beth Schoenfeldt, co-founder of Ladies Who Launch.
One of the cool things about this Grand Networking Event is that in addition to an hour of mingling time before the dinner, each attendee sits at 3 different tables and meets the 7 other women business owners at her table. There is a round-robin of self-intros so it’s more than just a card swap.
The question is, what do you do with all those cards, information and notes? Here’s my method:
I sort through the cards and immediately toss (sorry!) the ones selling products/services that aren’t of interest.
I put dates on my calendar to initiate calls with the women I want to spend more time with.
I sent a thank you and a gift to the speaker.
I enter information from business cards and notes I’d taken into my database increasing the resource base I’ve already established.
I look up everyone’s website and assess the maturity of the business: under construction or fully functioning with rich content.
I plan time on my calendar to write thank you notes to the committee chairs for their incredible service to this organization.
And, when those dates appear on my calendar, I honor the commitment I made to myself and dial the number or write the note.
I live 2 miles from the World’s Largest Dairy Store (according to Ripley’s Believe It or Not)–Stew Leonard’s. I had the privilege of hearing Stew, Jr. address my Entrepreneurial Woman’s Network (EWN) meeting on April 24.
Totally inspiring.
His message was: how do you grow like a chain business and maintain the agility of a mom & pop operation? For example, he bemoaned the fact that as members of our network came up to him with great products for his store, he was unable to immediately run with their idea as he may have in the past. Now the store has systems in place that reduce that mom-and-pop style spontaneity. Read the rest of this entry »
This lesson from my book, Soul Proprietor is: Getting advice from an expert is critical. You’ll save time and money.
Clients and colleagues have been telling me for months now that it’s time to start a blog. “It’s so easy. You can set your own up in an hour, really!” they said. Somehow I never found that hour.
But, I trust the wisdom of my friends and supporters and was fortunate enough to get a referral to an expert, Lena West who had recently spoken at EWN (Entrepreneurial Woman’s Network – Norwalk, CT). After a couple of introductory discussions I became clear, motivated, and willing to take on this new communication. Yes, it costs money for this expertise, but I always ask myself, what is the cost of not doing it and how many coaching hours would it take for me to figure it all out on my own.
Lena walked me through the process, got my blog up and running on my site, and is there to answer questions as they arise. Without her help, and my trusted webmaster Steve White, I’d still be promising to get started. Now I have.
Welcome to my blog!
