Thursday, October 28, 2004
RE: BusinessWeek Small Biz Busts A Move.
A headline gracing the cover of BusinessWeek Small Biz this month: "How Women Are Snagging Venture Capital." Inside, a great article on the Venture Funding for Women Entrepreneurs report, released this June by re:invention and leading venture capital firm, Growthink Research. Many thanks to Small Business Editor Kimberly Weisul and reporter Julia Cosgrove, who explored a smart angle on the upside for women-led biotech and health sciences companies. Read the article titled "Healthy Balances" HERE. re:invention secured placements for women heroines Dr. Jennie Mather (CEO Raven Technologies) and Amy Millman (Springboard Enterprises) in the article.
Haven't heard of BusinessWeek's Small Biz yet? This is the second issue of the quarterly business publication, designed to compete head to head with Fortune Small Business. You can pick it up at select Barnes & Noble and Borders stores.
RE: Why Don't Women Build "Built to Flip" Businesses? Well Duh. Some Of Us Don't Want To.
Once miserable Linda Yaniszewski, Founder and CEO of Execuscribe, was named the Rochester Business Alliance Small Business Council's Small Business Person of the Year on Wednesday. Execuscribe is also one of Inc. magazine's top 500 fastest growing companies. During Linda's acceptance speech she focused on how taxing her small business once was on her family.
"My kids ate a lot of tuna fish sandwiches, and until they were 20 they thought everyone ate dinner at 9 o'clock."
More lessons from Linda? When she hit her darkest hour of frustration, she took a deep breath and a step backwards, essentially "firing" 80% of her customers and eliminating 90% of her services in 90 days. She refocused on higher paying customers and limited her geographical target zone. It worked. Within 3 years Execuscribe's revenue grew from $302,000 to $2.4 million and staff swelled from eight to 14 with 45 contractors.
Congrats, Linda. Control your own destiny, don't let your business control you.
If you are searching for clarity...a reason why more women don't build "built to flip businesses." Well duh. Some of us just don't want to. Built to flip can sometimes bite. A surprising number of women entrepreneurs fall into two categories: (1) those who are merely passing time and (2) those who are passionate about their businesses - they groom them as they would their child's hair - and equally driven by a desire for life balance.
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
RE: Chicago Tribune Pulls Suggestive Article About C_nts From Woman News Section. Print Pussies.
Appears the Chicago Tribune Woman News team worked hard into the wee hours of the night last nite (stop yawning, Raoul). Their mission? The team was manually removing and replacing an article titled "You c_nt say that (or can you?)" - an article discussing the use of vulgar slang to characterize women. The article (quoting academics and cultural commentators) explored the stigma surrounding the c_nt - although the story never actually mentioned the word. Editors pulled the story off the press.
Is it just me? All the hub-bub has me baffled. Does the Tribune think women can't take a joke? Print pussies.
RE: A Secret Message For Women Entrepreneurs from "Women Are Dreamers Too" During Domestic Violence Awareness Month
October -- in addition to being National Breast Cancer Awareness Month -- is also Domestic Violence Awareness Month, first observed in 1981. According to "Women Are Dreamers Too," a national organization dedicated to raising awareness and income creation for battered and homeless women, there are 3 million women who are physically abused by their husband or boyfriend per year. Every day 4 women die in this country as a result of domestic violence.
If you support women, take the time to visit the Women Are Dreamers, Too website. Click the start button on the top left side of the page, scroll your way down to "entrepreneurs," and click again. They have a secret message just for you (hint: it has to do with angel $$$).
Women entrepreneurs need to unite for more than the vote. We need to unite for one another. Bravo WADT. Bravo. WADT needs you too - so if you can, donate. And if you can't, volunteer.
Monday, October 25, 2004
RE: Entrepreneurs + College...By The #s, Women Entrepreneurs Appear More Educated.
For the very first time, Forbes has created a list of the top 25 most entrepreneurial college campuses - schools that are teaching students the art of the start and offering mentorship and venture fund support.
Yes. Entrepreneurial action on college campuses was big news back in 1998 too - when Inc. Magazine, NPR, and Rolling Stone Magazine reported on it.
Today's top 10 per Forbes?
1. University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
2. University of Notre Dame
3. Louisiana State
4. Northeastern University
5. Indiana University
6. Carnegie Mellon
7. Syracuse
8. University of Arizona
9. University of Iowa
10. University of New Hampshire.
What's fascinating? The number of entrepreneurs without a degree. The
National Federation of Independent Business reports that only 60% of all entrepreneurs (men and women combined) have at least some college education. Only a tenth of this group (12.6%) has graduate or professional school degrees. A full 40% have but a high school degree or less. Some notable inventors and entrepreneurs who bailed on college or high school? Bill Gates (who hoisted blue-peter from Harvard during junior year), Michael Dell (who took flight from Texas), Ted Turner (expelled from Brown for having a girl in his room), Barry Diller (who sprang from UCLA), Chef Wolfgang Puck, Robert Redford, Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Nathan Pritikin (Pritikin diet), Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Ray Kroc, Carl Lindler, David Murdock, Vidal Sassoon, Richard Branson, Jim Clark (founder of Netscape), Kemmons Wilson (founder of Holiday Inn), Jimmy Dean, the Wright brothers...
Although this statistic surprised even me,
according to the
Center for Women's Business Research, 75% of all women entrepreneurs have a college degree. Asian women entrepreneurs have the highest level of educational attainment.
"Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilized by education; they grow there, firm as weeds among rocks." - Charlotte Bronte
Click
HERE to watch the Forbes video on the rankings.
P.S. Big thunk on the head to Forbes for their "who is your fav entrepreneur" web poll included as part of the Entrepreneurial Campuses Special Report splash page. The poll asks readers to choose their favorite entrepreneur and offers 14 possible answers. Not 1 women among them. Be
judicious.
Friday, October 22, 2004
RE: Ladies - Go Long For A Loan!
According to Inc. Magazine, The Small Business Administration has reported record lending results in 2004. In the past year SBA backed nearly 18,000 loans to women-owned businesses under its 2 primary loan programs, amounting to $2.5 billion. The number of loans to women rose 27%. It's still less than our fair share - only 3% of the government's total contracting dollars, far short of the congressionally mandated goal of 5%. But we women have to celebrate the little victories.
Friend CJ Prince, executive editor of CEO Magazine and fellow columnist at Entrepreneur Magazine, offers an informative report about SBA Lending in November's Entrepreneur. re:invention advisory board member, Carol Nichols (MW Region SVP Small Business Banking at Bank of America), is quoted in the article. Bank of America is the nation's #1 small business lender (they do business with 1 of every 5 small businesses in their 29-state region).
CJ suggests the recovering U.S. economy and big-company optimism could soon cause banks to revert to issuing large lucrative loans to corporations.
According to Count Me In, a not-for-profit that champions women's drive towards economic indepences with micro business loan access, 39% of women-owned fast-growth firms have a commercial loan as compared to 52% of men.
The headline? Get yers while the going is good gals!
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
RE: Women Kill Their Strong, While Men Kill Their Weak...
hi yvonne, toby, kylie, andrea, and michelle:
thank you for adding your kind comments to yesterday's blog entry! it definitely is a controversial issue. women need to learn how to help women profitably succeed. men know how to do this for one another. many men will choose their buddies in business over a sharp gal any day (unless, that is, they have prurient* intentions).
That is one of the reasons why so few women-led businesses are VC-funded. That is one of the reasons why so few women hold executive or board positions.
yet there is another reason. and here is my contrarian response and call-to-action (fair warning for ya, it's a little extreme). I feel a little like John the Baptist preaching on the banks of the river.
enough with the books and scholars and the women who proffer that women do not want to play the woman card or work with other women for fear it will marginalize or silo them. Woe to these unintentionally wicked women. Women MUST consciously choose to selectively support one another to womenkind's advantage. Men and minorities fiercely protect their pride. Women need to learn to do the same and fully consider the implications of their actions.
the time has come to think differently. Sometimes the very way to claim advantage in a game is to do something that is highly counter-intuitive. Indeed...I believe if women band heavyhandedly with women; if women create women cartels; if women fiercely choose to support other women; if women play the woman card with each other; if women selectively support one another to womenkind's advantage; if women in fact turn inequality and unfair discrimination towards women on its ear by fiercely giving other women unfair advantage....I BELIEVE WE WOMEN WILL FINALLY TURN THE TIDE FOR WOMENKIND.
alas, far too many women don't do this. We bitch and moan and we take the high road, trying to remain impartial, preserve unbiased integrity, and subsume into the male culture. We subtly and often unconsciously yearn to work with other men in the hopes that they will better nurture us and we will absorb their power to hoist our foundations. When we try to demonstrate our power as women we inadvertently and sometimes consciously hurt ourselves and one another. We often undermine our women leaders and our women leaders often fail to fiercely advocate for our high potential aspiring women leaders. We Women Kill Our Strong, While Men Kill Their Weak. We fail to fight for one another. The world is 50% women. We own 50% of U.S. small businesses. We influence over 85% of all spending decisions. Women are the weaker sex because we refuse to claim and own our leadership role. Women are the weaker sex because we refuse to ferociously fend for our own pride.
sharpen your teeth, ladies. aspire to lionness. defend and tend to your pride.
and by the way, you can still love men while doing this. I love and appreciate my male mentors, my boyfriend, my father. They've taught me well and what I've learned: IN THE END BABE, BUSINESS IS BUSINESS. To heck with "the softer side of Sears."
kindly,
kirsten
* a definition of prurient - "characterized by lust."
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
RE: 85 Broads Beg Buycott.
85 Broads (a loosely organized group of former Goldman Sachs women) suggests that women "buycott" the world today. Why the buycott? 85 Broads protests that women need to prove their salt when it comes to spending power. Click HERE to learn more. The buycott is hitting smart women's blogs like wildfire. And here. And here. Even scored a mention over on Tom Peters blog.
Is it just me, or does this beg for buycott clearly indicate that 85 Broads fails to recognize that women also own businesses? Shouldn't we women only "buycott" male-led businesses or major corporations with limited women executive headcount to make the point? Leave it to an organization of women to inadvertently hurt the 10.6 million women-led businesses by "buycotting" them as well. Women-led businesses are already less profitable than male-led businesses. Women don't help women win.
Sorry Kylie Dixon (guru, friend and mentor at Ascend Ventures NYC and 85 Broads member). I just don't get it.
In case you are curious, the name - 85 Broads - is a cheeky reference to Goldman's NYC street address, 85 Broad Street. 4500 women strong worldwide. This is sure to garner a good deal of media attention.
RE: Quitting is Not An Option. Sometimes You Have No Choice At All.
The world is filled with admonishment for people who quit. "Quitting is not an option" is a tired battlecry, as well-worn as a weary favorite pair of Nike march into war madness cross-trainer shoes...Try on for size the trumpets and cries from:
The Christian Right
Literary Liasions
Runners
Entrepreneurs
Bloggers
They are all equally right and wrong: Quitting is not an option. Sometimes you have no choice at all. You simply fail or lose and without the resources to begin again by default you are forced to quit. You have zero options.
Research shows that over 50% of all business decisions fail, 60% of all businesses fail before their 6th year, and 82% go under before their 10th year anniversary. Why do they fail? For early-stage companies, perhaps the idea was too loud of a scream, too soft of a whisper, an idea before its time. For later-stage companies, some say "failure doesn't necessarily mean anything went wrong." Others claim "failure to plan is a plan for failure." The list of reasons for failures could very well be as long as the number of small businesses that have shut their doors in the past 10 years. In the end, the reasons are less relevant than containing the aftermath and recovery.
Entrepreneurs by nature have strong egos and take pride in what they do. Most of us will fiercely fight a path of determination when confronted with obstacles. We will fight the battle to our last breath and take everyone down with us. Last month, Entrepreneur Magazine reported that when it comes to bankruptcy "business owners go under harder." Ego and pride are both deadly sins that can prevent us from admitting business failure in a timely manner. 
The simple fact: when your business can no longer continue trading without encountering catastrophic problems and you have exhausted every possible resource you have hit the moment of business failure. It is important that you recognize business failure early or you will face increased financial and legal problems when you try to put your business to rest.
Not everyone is fortunate enough to always be a winner or to be in a position to hold out because "they are not a quitter." Sometimes you don't get to choose. You tap out your personal resources and credit cards, you overextend yourself with family and friends, you fail to woo financial fortitude from VCs or investors, you are declined loans without the necessary collateral or assets. And before you face crushing personal financial crisis you would do well to step back and climb in to move forward.
Imagine a professional football player who didn't quit after a severely broken leg and still attempted to play the game. He may never WALK again.
Quitting is not an option.
Sometimes you have no choice at all.
Let's take today to acknowledge that you can quit by default and begin again.
There is great power in knowing you can walk way and someday walk again.
That is, afterall, what re:invention is all about.
Second comings are evergreen mysterious, provocative, and inspiring.
Monday, October 18, 2004
RE: 75th Annual National Business Women's Week Arrives With Eerie Silence
Today marks the start of the 75th Annual National Business Women's Week. A SADLY underpublicized week sponsored by Business and Professional Women/USA (self-designated the "leading advocate for working women"). The SADLY underpublicized National Business Women's Week is designed to help publicize the achievements of business and professional women on a local, state, and national level. Ironic, isn't it?
Read the 75 Years of Milestones for Women Worksheet today. Muse about how far we women have come. Print multiple copies and distribute them liberally to your daughter, your mother, your husband, your co-workers/employees. Then send a quick email to Business and Professional Women/USA President Nancy Hurlbert and suggest she hire a PR agency next year or better yet...partner with your company/organization locally to help spread the word.
P.S. Carnival of the Capitalists is up. Many entries to stir the controversial thought pot. Congratulations to them on their anniversary!
Thursday, October 14, 2004
RE: Apparently The Woman In Me Needs The Man In You.
It's been well publicized that there are now 10.6 million privately held women-owned businesses in the U.S. and they generate $2.46 trillion in sales. But let's take a closer look at that data and its implications about women power. According to The Center for Women's Business Research, these 10.6 million firms can be broken into 2 distinct categories:
(1) Those that truly have a woman at the helm. The firms that are majority women-owned (51% or more). 6.7 million of the 10.6 million -- TWO-THIRDS -- are "majority owned by a woman."
(2) Those that are equally owned by a man and a woman (50-50). 3.9 million of the 10.6 million -- ONE-THIRD -- are "equally owned by a man and a woman."
An interesting never annotated fact?
The "majority woman-owned" firms ACTUALLY GENERATE LESS IN SALES than the firms "owned equally by a man and a woman." The numbers look like this:
(1) The 6.7 million majority woman-owned firms (the TWO-THIRDS) generate $1.2 trillion in sales.
(2) The 3.9 million firms owned equally by a man and a woman (the ONE-THIRD) generate $1.26 trillion in sales.
Hmm.
Appears women may need more of a male presence if they wish to attain greater financial success. Apparently the woman in me needs the man in you.
Let's take it one step further. Since current GDP is 10 trillion 784 billion and President Bush
has confirmed that "small businesses generate half of our economy's private output," that means the 6.7 million "majority women-owned firms in the U.S" -- the ones where women truly hold the helm -- only generated 22% of ALL small business output, 11% of GDP. Well I do declare!
He-Man wins, hands down. We may just well deserve to
get less if we give less. Looks like we women still have a LONG way to go...
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
RE: Knock Me Out Please! I Need The Sleep.
As I am up this morning at 4 a.m., slightly concerned about a project due today, it dawns on me that I sleep considerably less than the average person (the actual length of time the average person spends sleeping is 22 years). I wish I could get by on even less sleep, or at least actively engage in hypnopaedia...it would make me so much more productive! The exhaustion finally caught up with me last night. I fell asleep instead of driving over to my boyfriend's house. He called me and woke me up - furious - and said "he just didn't understand me."
Here's a hint, sweetie: ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.......
Appears lack of sleep is indicative of most entrepreneurs. Entrepreneur Magazine notes that Inventor Thomas Edison reportedly slept just three to four hours a night (though he took daytime naps); Martha Stewart gets by on four or five hours; and Jeff Taylor, founder and CEO of online career center Monster.com, sleeps anywhere from two to seven hours a night ("Anything less than two hours and I don't bother," he has said).
A June 2004 study by Startups.co.uk, found that almost half of all small business owners claimed to be unable to sleep at night. And Inc. Magazine has written, we should all give sleep 2-weeks worth of respect.
If sleep deprivation has a direct relationship with short-term performance and long-term health, all entrepreneurs need to be sleeping more, not less. Sleep is not a privilege we give ourselves as entrepreneurs, it is a necessity. Short of buying a satin sleep mask and reading the Sleep Disorders BLOG at 4 a.m. when I am restless and can't get back to sleep, wondering if there are any of you with effective "how to master sleep tips."
Knock me out, please!
And for even more fun, visit the National Sleep Foundation site. The NSF estimates that approximately 70 million people in the U.S. are affected by a sleep problem and sleep deprivation and sleep disorders cost Americans over $100 billion annually in lost productivity, medical expenses, sick leave, and property and environmental damage. How's your sleep?
Is it just me or is this a "ripe for the picking" marketing opportunity? Beyond the sleeping pills and the premium Serta perfect sleeper mattresses...what's next?
Monday, October 11, 2004
RE: Small Business Survival Index Announced Today (where does your state fall?)
SBEC (The Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council) announced its Small Business Survival Index today. The index ranks states in order of their positive environment for entrepreneurs - and seeks to expose the costs that elected officials impose on entrepreneurs, small businesses and their employees by state. State ranking factors: 23 major government-imposed or related costs including taxes, crime rates, health care costs, state legal liability costs, minimum wage, and regulatory flexibility status.
The top five states: South Dakota, Nevada, Wyoming, Washington, and Florida.
The bottom five: Minnesota, Rhode Island, Hawaii, California, D.C.
Illinois ranks 19th.
Read the entire report HERE.
How does this match up with what you've experienced in your own state? I myself have found California to be much more supportive of entrepreneurs than Illinois. California remains the new frontier fiscally and politically, and Chicago too often zealously kills the runt of the litter before he or she has time to mature.
In case you are wondering, the SBEC is a new name for the Small Business Survival Committee. SBSC became SBEC on October 1. Same mission, same objectives. Why the name change? Karen Kerrigan, SBEC CEO, claims they want to better represent "the effective advocacy and research work we do to help small firms survive and thrive in a competitive global marketplace, but also the principled work we engage in to promote and advance policies that are fundamental to risk-taking, investment and business start-up."
The organization name change makes a gal wonder, isn't the name of the organization's index a bit misleading and in need of a tune-up? Shouldn't an index titled "The Small Business Survival Index" actually measure the rate of small business enterprise launches and failures by state? Go figure!
Friday, October 08, 2004
RE: We Give, and We Give, and We Give....
"Very well, I am an entrepreneur and in a new paper by William Nordhaus I am told that I receive some 2.2% of the value that I produce. The other 97.8% goes to y'all in the general populace (or as a past girlfriend from the Deep South would say when referring to the plural y'all, y'all y'all).... As I see it, y'all owe me $2.5 million..."
- excerpt from today's Tim Worstall Rant
What's up with the William Nordhaus paper? "
Schumpeterian Profits in the American Economy: Theory and Measurement," is authored by
William Nordhaus, Sterling Professor of Economics at Yale University and Chairman of the newly formed American Economic Association Committee on Federal Statistics. The paper concludes that only a tiny fraction of social returns from technological advances are captured by producers. Nearly all of the benefits are passed on to consumers. I.E. all entrepreneurs are inadvertently and by default not-for-profit entity "do-gooders." Or as Tim puts it:
"for every $2.20 that (entrepreneurs) get to spend on wine women and song, the rest of us get $97.80." We give, and we give, and we give....
At first blush it may sound like a yawner, but Nordhaus' paper is full of interesting controversial economic theory that any good woman entrepreneur should know. It's also been published as
working paper 10433 by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
The paper is good, but Tim Worstall's rant is infinitely more interesting. Women entrepreneurs need to keep abreast of all good ol' boy small-talk. ;) Of note: Tim's reference to "
Malefactors of Great Wealth." I'm thinking Tim is ready for
Change This, eh Seth? Bookmark it for an amusing
READ over the rainy weekend. You might also want to mosy on over to Tim's
BLOG.
p.s. hey Tim -- women entrepreneurs probably don't spend their money "on wine and women." maybe shoes and school supplies for their kids.
Thursday, October 07, 2004
RE: Thursday and Something Truly Different...
american giraffe
sarah's a bigger giraffe now.
she survived birthing,
a 6-foot drop from mother's womb.
she's never outgrown her fear of free-fall.
so sarah lives over radar,
reverie-vanquished in unlogoed t-shirts and
well-worn jeans. she hides in the trees,
tail-whisking flies, stretching her neck
only to mulch mulberry. the branches taste
of sadness, like stale bread dipped in sugar.
he'd beaten sarah enough, until she had learned
how to camouflage spots, until she had forgotten
she was tall, tall enough to step over
the 2-foot deep stream of his boundary -
one long, brown leg after the other.
from Zoo to Field last May. he passed away.
still, sarah has silently stalked, swallowing hard,
savoring her "emotional unload,"
pitch-coated twigs, leaves of grotty green.
at least she can imagine it.
drawing herself up with height and might,
walking gracefully
with delicate sense of direction -
one long, brown leg after the other.
someday soon she will convince herself.
sarah's beginning to dream of African Safari...
-k.o., poem 327, june 2002
Wednesday, October 06, 2004
RE: Conservative Crate and Barrel Gets "Grass Stains," Thanks to Cheeky Photo Assistant
Have you heard about this yet? Appears a Crate and Barrel photo assistant managed to slip his personal phone number into Crate & Barrel's fall catalog (mailed to 1 million customers). The photo assistant wrote his personal phone number and the note "dinner with Marc" on a for-sale whiteboard in a home office photo. Creative and cheeky Marc Horowitz caught the Northbrook, IL based retailer by surprise, prompting hundreds of customers to call the number.
"Fortunately we all have a sense of humor." a Crate and Barrel spokesperson quipped as the news broke in press.
LOL Marc. Seems Marc has single-handedly dragged Crate and Barrel over into the modern world of grassroots marketing. When's the last time you did something to shake people up?
RE: My Take On Fortune's Top 10 Most Powerful WOMEN
Fortune released their top 10 most powerful women list today. Same old crowd. They are indeed powerful (no denying that). They are successful with great access to wealth and commanding presence. The top 10:
1. Meg Whitman, CEO eBay
A Harvard MBA married to Dr. Griffith R. Harsh IV (MD, MBA, Professor of Neurosurgery). Meg is a woman somehow once described as "smart but ordinary" before she joined eBay in the spring of 1998.
2. Carly Fiorina, CEO HP
A tech guru married to a retired AT&T Vice President. Her father? An esteemed judge.
3. Andrea Jung, CEO Avon
Her husband, Michael Gould, was chairman of Bloomingdales where Andrea started her career.
4. Anne Mulcahy, Chairman and CEO Xerox, named to the Board at Citigroup in September
Known as the "accidental CEO"...a woman who has spoken fondly of her long time career mentor Paul Allaire, former Xerox Chairman.
5. Marjorie Magner, Chairwoman and CEO of Citigroup's Global Consumer Group
Recruited in 1973 to join Chemical Bank by longtime mentor Robert Lipp (now Travelers Property Casualty Corp. Chair and Accenture Board of Director). She later "took a risk" and followed Lipp and Robert Willumstad (now Citi COO) over to Sandy Weill's Commercial Credit. Choosing people over company eventually paid off.
6. Oprah Winfrey
7. Sallie Krawcheck, Citigroup Finance Chief
Met her i-banker husband, Gary Appell, after college at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and left in 1994, partly to avoid working directly for him.
8. Abigail Johnson, Fidelity Management and Research President
Her grandfather Edward C. Johnson II founded the firm's predecessor, Fidelity Management & Research Co., in 1946.
9. Pat Woertz, ChevronTexaco's EVP of global downstream
Follows the example of her father, Charles Woertz, the former CFO of a large home-construction and development company.
10. Karen Katen, Pfizer EVP and President of Global Pharmaceuticals
A Chicago MBA who has spent her ENTIRE 25+ year career at Pfizer. Now THAT is rock hard endurance (wink-wink, nod-nod) brought to you by one of the heads of the company that makes Viagra.
You might be getting my drift, if you read between the lines. What is that old saying about stacking the cards? Apparently it helps to have a powerful husband, father, lover, or male mentor. Why do I point this out and risk sounding like a man? Two reasons: (1) because men help other men, sometimes men help women but often only with personal connection, and women truly helping other women still tends to be a outlier and (2) because a man can rise to the top without the powerful extra help and I do believe women without the extra help are at a powerful disadvantage. Didn't Seth Godin just say it wasn't who you know?
Tuesday, October 05, 2004
RE: An Updated Snapshot of Women Small Business Owners
An updated snapshot of women small business owners.
55% vote in every election
34% are Democrats.
39% are Republicans.
24% are Independents.
86% are white.
4% are black.
6% are Hispanic.
49% are 50 or older.
45% have college or post grad education.
25% say the economy and jobs are the most important factors in choosing a president.
86% say they are more likely to vote for a candidate who supports controlling health care costs.
57% are unable to provide health insurance for their employees.
54% don't provide health insurance because it is too expensive.
Source: Lake Snell Perry & Associates and American Viewpoint for Women Impacting Public Policy survey, November 2003.
-- lifted from Nancy Traver
RE: Owner's Equity
owner's equity (traditional definition)
The difference between assets and liabilities. For a company, also called net worth or shareholders' equity.
owner's equity (as defined by Saturday party guests - the men, not the women)
"Husbands are owner's equity."
Hmm. Wondering what my VC blogging friends might have to say about this....
Monday, October 04, 2004
RE: Telling The Truth Versus Making Up A Story Part II (the delightful tweak)
On August 29, Brand Autopsy published a blog entry titled, "what the (marketing) world needs now." The topic: telling the story versus making up a story. John at Brand Autopsy heralds Apple for telling the true story about iPOD and admonishes Burger King for making up stories that are untrue. "It's no wonder consumers have become jaded, cynical, and distrustful of marketing," John wrote, "they're forced to endure fairy tale marketing from marketers."
John's blog entry kept dancing through my head on Saturday night, while I toiled as guest at a party hosted by Chicago investment types (filthy rich men who compare jets not cars and desperate housewives bored out of their minds, each having borne 3 to 5 children because it is the in vogue thing to do among the wealthy elite). I socialized with the women at the party and realized they were each desperate for fancy in their lives (they truly deserve some). Sadly, I had more in common with the men, although I was mere amusement to one i-banker who told me that he, "like many other successful men, funded his wife's business to keep her busy - and (he) was willing to fund me to help her if it amused her." *
Seems to me that a rare few lead a storybook life (even those seemingly living the storybook life) and most of us are desperately hungry for a pretty story. Who wants ho-humdrum reality? The reason we like reality t.v. is not because it is like our reality. It is because it is reality done better than our reality. It's A DELIGHTFUL TWEAK. And that's what makes it so gosh darn intriguing.
In today's world of marketing - we cling to storytelling and stories can be deemed downright sexy and fiercely embraced.
eBay knew the power of a great story. Remember the story about how the founder of eBay invented his online auction site so his fiance could trade Pez dispensers online? The story was so tied to eBay's identity that Chief Executive Meg Whitman often was photographed with Pez collections and 121 dispensers are on display in the lobby at company headquarters. The boring truth: eBay's founder realized an auction-based marketplace would be a great use of the Internet. But Mary Lou Song, eBay's first public relations manager, found that the true story didn't excite reporters. People ate the PEZ story up.
eBay revealed the storytelling in a book titled "The Perfect Store" by Adam Cohen in 2002. Although eBay's founder did use eBay every now and then to buy and sell his wife's Pez collectibles, it took a delightful tweak to boost the company legend. Admitting that the story was fabricated generated EVEN MORE coverage for eBay. By then, eBay was so big it wasn't damaging.
Apple is indeed successful, but it isn't because they aren't making up a story. Apple is succeeding because they are introducing the world to a revolutionary new category. They ARE the story with sizzle. They don't need the delightful tweak. All they need to do is stand up and whisper. Burger King is desperate because their category is spent (and they chose woefully stupid stories). Fact is: no matter what story Burger King tells - they cannot dig out of that category death toll grave. Unless they hop to another core category.
Not every company can invent a cool new category like Apple. We all know that sometimes the only way a company can break through is to fire up a little steak sizzle and cook up a little story like eBAY. Yes truth is a torch that gleams through the fog without dispelling it. But the world usually prefers a little story. Not a damaging or hurtful lie. Hurtful lies that affect people's lives negatively are uncalled for. But little stories - delightful tweaks - are OK if their intent is to pique interest. A harmless sexy spin, a delightful tweak. The world expects it. The world longs for it. Without it, our lives would be tedious and boring. The world longs for a delightful tweak.
Of course, you need to realize that stories like this that pique interest and don't deliver are damaging in other ways. But we'll leave that to a future blog entry.
Yeah yeah yeah - all the "intellectual teacher-preachers" can say otherwise. They can recommend that you always tell the simple and plain truth story, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. It's awfully idealistic of them. And I offer eBAY as a case study rebuttal.
* Stay tuned for more on this funding story - tomorrow.
EDITORS POST SCRIPT NOTE: BE SURE TO READ THE COMMENTS FOR THIS ENTRY!
Friday, October 01, 2004
RE: Kindness among Bloggers - "How To Pitch Me" Rules Done Right.
Lately, I've been musing over the growing arrogance of many bloggers. Many bloggers are beginning to think they are more powerful than media. Many are also becoming needlessly cruel and unkind. I walk the fine line - now that I am both blogger and media.
Last week, I took great offense to a blog entry and blogger comments over at a leading blogger's site. I like this blogger (alot). He is a good man. But last week, he razored an author who attempted to contact him to gain his support. Good-humored teasing or fending for re:invention's intellectual property rights is one thing (I'm sooooo guilty) - cruel and degrading commentary is another.
As I occasionally pitch stories to media, I know how often media gets unsolicited calls. Very few people in media would be downright hostile to a neophyte who attempted to pitch them. Sure Walter Mossberg might have a charming bit of a bite, but in general reporters will help rather than take a haughty "do it better" cavalier approach.
I believe bloggers could take a cue from the media, being a little less high and mighty and a little more understanding that people are learning this new medium.
Sharing suggestions about how an author, reporter, or fellow blogger can improve their pitch to you is wondeful. That is in fact what the Bacon's Media Directory does for PR professionals -- it provides a wonderful library of tips and a pitch preferences guide by media outlet and specific reporter. Jeff Jarvis (former tv critic for TV Guide and People) offers "rules of engagement" on his blog, BuzzMachine. Even MediaBistro offers "how to pitch by publication" tip sheets written by editors. Offering suggestions to those who pitch you can be constructive and personal rather than public and condescending.
A person contacting you, after all, considers your endorsement and influence to have great value and they are just trying to establish dialogue the best they know how (likely while juggling multiple other projects that day). They may be following "old standards" -- a press release format, for instance, where the release is only written once and disseminated to muliple outlets. I'm not saying that this is right or to be condoned. I do say kudos to any non-media person for trying to make "blogger and media contact!" Sales and relationship building doesn't come second nature to everybody.
Bloggers might consider borrowing a page from the media on this one. Perhaps bloggers could list a "how to pitch me rules" profile on their site? A kinder, gentler approach. A mother's whisper, not a public flogging. Tell me how you'd like me to pitch you. And try to be nice.
I've added this type of profile to re:invention's site today - check the right hand navigation bar. Doing my little part.
kindly,
kirsten
editor's post-scripts:
1. Todd over 800 CEO blog indicates that he has read and positively reviewed the author's upcoming book (hear! hear!).
2. And sadly, a woman blogger - Angela over at e-BIZ JUST PROVED MY POINT about how cruel and needlessly unkind many bloggers have become. She doesn't have comments functionality up on her blog. So I leave a personal note here: wishing Angela and her partner, Birgitt, the best with their business.
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