I recently came across a study by the Guardian Life Small Business Research Institute predicting that about one-third of new jobs created over the next eight years will be at small businesses owned by women.

As a woman small business owner myself, I was really intrigued by this news. It also reminded me that many job seekers miss out on great opportunities because they overlook the potential to get a job at a (man- or woman-owned) small business.

In my podcast this week, I share my thoughts on the opportunities available in small businesses, how to find these opportunities and the pros and cons of working for a smaller organization.

As always, I look forward to your feedback and comments!

Listen to the podcast now.

Note: This post originally appeared on my “College to Career” blog at MyPath.com.

TAGS: Job Search, women entrepreneurs

When it comes to money – what kind of saver are you?

Several years ago I came across a great, straightforward answer to that question.  It was in financial education literature from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas which is one of the network of twelve banks and their branches that make up the Federal Reserve system (http://www.dallasfed.org/ca/wealth/pdfs/wealth.pdf)

The publication outlined four types of savers:

• The planner saver – a person who controls spending and budgets to save.
• The struggler saver – someone who has trouble staying afloat financially and finds it difficult to save.
• The denier saver – a person who sees no reason for a budget because they don’t see themselves in trouble financially.
• The impulsive saver – a person who unfortunately spends today like there’s no tomorrow because their attitude is that tomorrow will take care of itself.

So, what type saver are you?

To accumulate, grow and preserve your money takes discipline.  While it’s important to have a savings account, don’t forget to get on track to also have an “emergency fund“:  3-6 months worth of living expenses (12 months worth if you’re self-employed) in an account where you can easily access the money if there’s a critical need. 

Regardless the type saver you are – you can improve your savings goal by remembering this bottom line:  you must always earn more than you spend.  Or said another way, let spending less be your goal.  That’s a healthy state of fiscal readiness and takes your savings to another level: investing. 

If saving to invest and investing to build wealth is your goal – http://showmomthemoney.com/personalgrowth/7traits.htm take a look at what’s described as the traits of very wealthy people and how those traits translate into building wealth and sustaining it. 

Wealthy people tend to be:

• Persistent.  For anyone, on the way to achieving a goal, you will face obstacles, right?  Wealth  is achieved by negotiating one’s way around or through numerous obstacles persistently.
• Businessmen and women or investors in businesses.  Think about it.  The richest people we’ve heard about all own companies and when asked say – to create wealth, you must involve yourself in business because that’s where the money is.
• Innovative.  Innovation ensures you’ll be among the ones who come up with new ideas and new ideas can create wealth.  They tend to do what they absolutely love and love it so much that they forget they’re actually working.
• Leverage.  They know when to let go and they know not to try and do everything themselves.

It appears that wealthy people also share the philosophy that to whom much is given, much is expected – and therefore share the trait of giving back by supporting causes in which they believe.   Finally, they value and participate in continuing education since extremely wealthy people tend to believe that the greatest asset in the world is your mind.

Here’s to your health and wealth!

TAGS: improving savings goals, saving money, traits of wealthy people, types of savers

I was inspired by my colleague Carol Frohlinger’s The “Pink Elephant” in the Room (July 27th 2009) post about how important our personal perceptions and experiences when confronted with a difficult issue.  She went on to say that might be what happens when women are asked about their experiences in working with other women.

The phrase (pink) “elephant in the room” describes something that should be very obvious, something you’d certainly notice.  “Elephant in the room” is actually an English idiom for an obvious truth regarding a question, problem, solution, or controversial issue that though obvious, is ignored by a group of people and goes unaddressed, generally out of embarrassment or taboo.

One of the biggest “pink elephants” in the room for professional women these days – is the one in green that begins with:  “We’d love for you to be our keynote speaker” (workshop leader, seminar facilitator, panelist, consultant) and ends with:  “…but we have very little money, so we thought you might be willing to…”

This long ignored “pink elephant” is making the other members of the herd green with envy.  

How can this elephant not even get talked about?  How is it that this elephant doesn’t get researched, discussed, tweaked and resolved the way most of those other touchy, uncomfortable, “oh-do-we-have-to-go-there” pink elephants (issues) do? 

How can this elephant that asks women professionals to donate their services – same event, same time every year, extremely worthy causes but not paychecks – still be standing in the center of the room when the reason for the gathering is to talk about women improving their financial well-being or managing the marketing of their product and brand to improve their business bottomline?

How can this elephant not understand it needs to walk the thin pink line and pay women professionals for their services and promote that mindset within their organizations?

Women now have impressive social networks and access to other professional women through these connections.  But far too often, we’re still being asked to ask each other to provide our expertise without compensation, or below market value or without the other basic fee for services and terms of engagement automatically afforded our male counterparts.

Part of this has to do with expectations.  Our average guy counterpart just isn’t expected to do as many pro bono gigs as the average professional woman.  That’s why I think it’s time for women to change the old mindset by consistently and proactively committing to pay each other (and get each other paid) for our skills, expertise, knowledge, know-how, ideas and anything else that formerly fell under the  ”we thought you might be willing to” category.

Glinda Bridgforth, a long-time and well respected colleague of mine in the field of personal finance, agrees but says it’s also important that women ask for what we believe we deserve.   Bridgforth is President and CEO of Bridgforth Financial & Associates, LLC (http://www.bridgforthfinancial.com/) and offers these suggestions on how to determine what you’re worth, what your compensation should be. 

“It’s important to get as much information as possible from the potential client,” Bridgforth says.  “Ask what kind of budget they have for a speaker.  Ask who the other speaker candidates are to get a sense of the professional caliber of speaker being sought.  The responses to those two questions give you an indication of the kind of fee the client’s willing to pay.”    Her suggestions can helps you get and set a good ballpark figure instead of guessing and potentially low balling your services or blowing yourself out of consideration.

Bridgforth and I both agree that philanthropy and community service should be part of everyone’s work ethic and responsibility.  “Women can do pro bono or work for lesser compensation on occasion because it is a seed that is being planted which can bloom into some other area,” Bridgforth says.  “Perhaps it can come from someone in the audience who will hire you in the future at your full rate.  But clearly, the pink elephant (in green) is in the room.”

Let’s address the “pink elephant” in green.  Let’s not be embarrassed.  It’s time for women to collectively stop participating in the “pink elephant”-in-green-mentality that abuses, confuses or co-mingles female philanthropy with professional compensation. 

Here’s to your health and wealth.

Glinda Bridgforth is the author of “Girl Get Your Credit Straight” and “Girl Get Your Money Straight”.

TAGS: improving women's financial well-being, pay for professional services, pink elephant issue, Thin pink line issue

Does the date October 27^th, 1997 have any financial significance to you? 

It was the day the Hong Kong stock market collapsed.  The Hang Seng Index plummeted, causing massive selloffs in financial markets around the world and initiating a 554-point plunge on the Dow Jones Industrial Average.  It was the day automatic trading curbs or collars as they’re also called — went into effect.  The protocols of those curbs have now changed, but back then, they would halt trading for half an hour if the market fell 350 points; for an hour if down 550 points. 

Those curbs or collars — had never been used before that day.  The Dow shot past the first collar.  Trading halted for 30 minutes.  When trading resumed, so did the freefall – like a hot knife through butter, the Dow lost another 200 hundred points.  Down 550, with less than half an hour left to the closing bell, trading was halted for the day.  The financial repercussions were felt around the world. 

Working that story as a financial journalist absolutely solidified my commitment to work from that day forward in ways to positively impact the financial futures of women because that day – investors, particularly women – needed to have had a plan in place to take advantage of  “the sale” – the bargain-hunting or bottom fishing opportunities that such an incident (market meltdown) creates. 

There’s nothing like a financial crisis to get everybody’s attention and change attitudes.  The current recession is the money madness everyone’s dealing with right now but the lessons hopefully learned from 1997 are being remembered:  reassess, reorganize and realign your financial plan to ensure your own financial future. 

Money has long been a gender-specific arena.  But, today’s women of all economic circumstances must learn the art of negotiating the best possible use of what money we have, and, the confidence to make a significant portion of that money grow for us into the future. 

When it comes to money, women have unique needs in three areas:  investment planning, retirement and business ownership.  We have lower salaries, longer life spans and fewer pensions.  Those facts add up to the need for a financial plan and action.  And, since we have a longer life expectancy, we need to seek a more balanced portfolio.  Money is power and we’ve simply got to become equal to the task. 

Twenty years ago, when my first marriage ended in divorce, I assumed all family debt in order to keep order in the timely and fragile area known as personal credit.  The job of reconstructing life – emotionally and financially – was enormous.  Post divorce the dollar reserves were small.  I’d made a lot of money and lived as many Baby Boomers did – with the confidence that there was more coming from where it had always come – my earning ability, which had been the primary support for the family.  My financial knowledge background was modest back then but my financial future needs were totally dependent on me figuring out how to do what needed to be done in a short amount of time.

Women face different life circumstances than men:  lower salaries, longer life span, fewer pensions, interrupted careers for care giving of children or elderly parents.  We need to realign ourselves in order to embrace change on our own behalf.  We cannot afford to wait for change to come.  We must become agents for change.

We women always have a plan – even in the midst of multi-tasking careers and managing home and family.  We have “what-to-do-if” scenarios for just about everything.  Not enough of us, however, have a clearly stated financial plan that allows us to take advantage of financial opportunities such as the massive selloff of October 27^th, 1997.   And, despite that missed opportunity – widely lamented by investors who weren’t positioned or able to respond to their advantage – how many of us in the nearly 12 years since then – have restructured our fiscal strategies to be beneficiaries rather than victims of market fluctuations and volatility? 

Here’s to your health and wealth.

TAGS: 1997, bargain hunting stocks, business ownership, current recession, gender specific money needs, Hong Kong stock market, investment planning, lower salaries, Market meltdowns, October 27th, pensions, personal credit, protocols, retiremet, trading curbs

This Saturday’s New York Times featured a front-page story about how the recession is prompting some people to start their own businesses instead of looking for new jobs. It’s an encouraging story if you’ve ever considered the option of creating your own venture, large or small.

While some people decide to dive headfirst into entrepreneurship, others feel more comfortable dipping in a toe, then an ankle, then a knee before swimming solo.  The choice is very personal and depends on your experience, finances and overall comfort with risk.  But, if you’re thinking even just a little bit about starting your own business, it’s never too early to take actions that will set you up for taking the plunge when you’re ready.  Here are some suggestions for first steps to take if you’re thinking about starting your own small business or becoming a full-time freelancer:

Find Real and Virtual Mentors. I guarantee you are not the first person to start a business in your industry. Use Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, DowntownWomensClub.com, Make Mine a Million $ Business, Yahoo groups and other networking organizations and websites to make connections with people who have started similar-sized businesses (though not potential direct competitors  — as you can imagine, it makes me really cranky when someone asks me for advice on how to start a business exactly the same as mine!).  Ask people how they got started and what advice and recommended resources they might offer.  You can also use the web to research successful entrepreneurs.  What do their websites look like?  What experience is listed in their bios or LinkedIn profiles?  What professional credentials do they maintain?  Take notes!

Understand the Essentials. It’s not the most exciting part of starting a business, but it’s crucial to research any licenses, taxes and insurance you’ll need to go solo, and I recommend doing this sooner rather than later.  Start a list or folder to keep track of everything, and don’t be afraid to ask experts for help, especially an accountant and a lawyer.  You can look to freelancers unions, entrepreneurial websites (my faves are StartupNation.com, FastCompany.com, Inc.com and Entrepreneur.com) and the Small Business Administration for free or low-cost help determining what “official” steps are required. Above all, be sure to find independent health insurance. Never take the risk of being uninsured.

Learn How to Market Yourself. One of the most important requirements of entrepreneurship is the ability to sell yourself and your ideas.  Even before you launch your own venture, you can begin working on this aspect of self-employment: Join high-profile committees of industry organizations to make yourself visible to members (who may be future clients of your new business). Volunteer at a nonprofit organization related to the business you’d like to start. Take professional development classes online or at a community college to enhance your business skills and industry expertise. Start a blog on a topic related to your entrepreneurial interests. Start posting comments and articles on Twitter that establish your expertise in the area of your choice. Check out the Personal Branding Blog for ongoing tips on marketing yourself.

Read up. Many, many, many people have written great books on how to start and run businesses of all shapes and sizes. Here are some of my personal favorites for young entrepreneurs.

Free Agent Nation: The Future of Working for Yourself

The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything

Getting Started in Consulting

Six-Figure Freelancing: The Writer’s Guide to Making More Money

The E-Myth: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It

If you have more how-to-be-an-entrepreneur books you’d recommend to aspiring entrepreneurs, please share in the Comments section!

Each of the above activities will increase your leadership experience, expand your network and, perhaps most importantly, build your confidence that there is a world outside of full-time employment.  The plunge into entrepreneurship could even take place sooner than you thought possible.  Or, if you find yourself resisting these actions, it may be a sign that you’re not quite ready to leave the regular paycheck pool, even if it is hard to find a job right now. Either way, self-employment is an option that many people consider at some point in their careers, so it’s always worth a bit of exploration.

A version of this post originally appeared on the Lindsey Pollak Career Blog.

TAGS: entrepeneurs, Generation Y

I had all sorts of kind words and compliments lined up to congratulate and celebrate you youngish Baby Boomers.  10,000 of you a day are turning 50 for the next ten to twelve years or so.  Then I reminded myself that I’m your financial cheerleader – and since you can’t take kind words and compliments to the bank – let me provide some loose change ideas instead because as I like to say – “Lose change adds up to folding money.”  You can bank on that.

If you’re in your 50s – when it comes to personal money matters – welcome to crunch time! 

In the fifth decade of life you need to do with your money what you’re hopefully doing with your mind and body:  firming it up in general but your retirement options specifically.  Here’s the reason why.  Although the whole idea of what retirement is is being re-thought by the 79 million of us who are known as Baby Boomers (”Encore: Work That Matters in the Second Half of Life ” by Marc Freedman), at this age, you’re actually thinking about doing it one of these days!  So now really is the time to decide what kind of retirement lifestyle you want – and plan accordingly.

Here’s how.  The closer you get to this thing called “retirement”, the more you need to scale back on doing anything too risky with your money.  Your asset allocation should be 50% stock and 50% fixed income.  This mix let’s your retirement savings grow in the market but with a safety net of sorts with fixed income.  If, however, you’re behind in your savings, you may need to be a more aggressive investor – in other words, take more risk even in your mid-50s in order to make up for lost time and the more recent losses due to the state of our economy.  Crunch the numbers – from social security, pension and all your other income streams – to determine how to best allocate your assets.  Look for online calculators to help you do this (http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/retirement.asp).

Since women still on average live longer than men and will therefore need money for a longer period of time, it’s very important to remember to actively continue saving for retirement.  Your money mantra should be – save as much as you can and be sure to track your assets more closely the closer you get to retirement. 

Many of us age 55 and older are taking care of aging parents, dealing with their end-of-life issues and what may be required of us emotionally and financially to help them.  So it’s easy to let our own future money needs get side tracked.

Get back on track by downsizing your housing costs – possibly relocating to a smaller home.  Get back on track by buying long term care insurance if you haven’t already because if you purchase it in you 50s, it’s still affordable. 

And finally, get back on track by downsizing your generosity.  Despite what your heart might say, this is the time in life where you must stop giving money to relatives and children.  I know – that’s a tough one.  But unless you’re independently wealthy – you’ve reached a point where you can no longer afford to lend a “money helping hand” because you’ll have little time to recoup any loses for loans that become gifts.

Next Thursday:  Women over age 55 control 65% of the country’s wealth (http://www.silvervixens.com/node/92) but often don’t give themselves credit for being able to make good money choices.  I’ll have some specific money moves for women of a certain age – 55 and older. 

Here’s to your health and wealth.

February is Black History Month.  Did you know that …  In the early 1900’s a woman named Madam C.J. Walker was considered by some to be the first self-made American woman millionaire?  Madam Walker was an African-American businesswoman – the wealthiest African-American woman in America in the early 20th century.  She revolutionized the hair care and cosmetics industry for African American women.  Madam Walker fully recognized the power of her wealth and success.  She promoted her business by speaking to women’s groups which empowered other women in business.  Her story is inspiration to women entrepreneurs of all ages and backgrounds.  http://inventors.about.com/od/wstartinventors/a/MadameWalker.htm

TAGS: aging parents, bankrate, black history, downsizing, encore careers, future money needs, loaning money, longevity, madam cj walker, Money in Your 50s, retirememt, women entrepreneurs

This is the second post I wrote to help entrepreneurs- both the finalists in the Yahoo Seeds for Success Program as well as The Think Pink Line readers. :

In addition to the negotiation planning process I wrote about earlier, I also offered some suggestions to the Seeds For Success finalists about negotiation process. Among them:

1. Create your business’s “standard” way of doing things and use that as a way to kick off a negotiation. For example, a “Usual Terms and Conditions” one-pager that you can use to describe the ways you do business. This is not to say that you can’t change any or all of these but it can make opening the conversation easier and can keep you on track so that you remember to bring up the things that are important for you to discuss.
2. Choose the method you’ll use to negotiate. Think about the people with whom you will be negotiating and plan a strategy. For example, one of the business owners is planning a trip to China to meet her suppliers in person later this year. While email has had to suffice in the meantime, she wants to build the relationship by spending some time fact to face.
3. Strike the business deal first, then ask your attorney to document it, advising you of the legal issues you should consider. Don’t delegate negotiating the business part of things to your lawyer – that’s not her expertise.

Paying attention to the negotiation process won’t solve all the issues that you’ll be negotiating about, but my experience is that it can certainly help!

This post also appeared on Shine, Yahoo’s new destination site for women.

TAGS: business owners, entrepeneurs, negotiation skills, playing to win, small business

Lois and I are both serving as mentors for the three finalists in the Yahoo Seeds for Success Program – how much fun it is to talk with such enterprising, energetic women!

Each of the entrepreneurs I spoke with was very clear about the myriad of opportunities to negotiate ─ with suppliers, service providers, independent contractors and, of course, customers and prospective customers.

For these three businesses as well as every other start-up I know though, when it comes to negotiation, it can seem as though it’s a clear case of David v. Goliath. So the question is:

How do you negotiate effectively when the other party has more leverage? (more…)

TAGS: business owners, entrepeneurs, negotiation skills, playing to win, small business

I received a great e-mail from Karen Seamon, a Thin Pink Line blogger, with this advice that I thought was worthy of your attention. 

Meeting Jessica LaFlesch might make some people feel inadequate, unaccomplished, or just downright lazy – but I was compelled to share her inspiring personal growth story in order to motivate other women.  Jessica is a young and energetic mother of four (ages 6-14) who, after many years of working at Citibank in customer service and team leader positions, sought the holy grail – a home-based career that would enable her to better balance her work and family.  After learning about Arise Virtual Solutions (www.arise.com), Jessica became a Virtual Services Corporation providing customer care from her home office, and was soon scheduling her work hours when her children were sleeping or at other activities.

After several months, Jessica’s enthusiasm and work ethic enabled her to shift from servicing Arise clients such as AAA Auto Clubs to a lead role giving informational presentations and assisting new professionals with questions and issues about servicing.  While this work was both convenient and satisfying, Jessica yearned for even more responsibility.  A few years later and as a result of her stellar reputation and commitment, she received an opportunity from Arise to become a corporate employee of the company (as an agent, she was an independent business owner) and work as an Admissions Specialist – from home.  She describes this as her dream job. “I never thought this opportunity would be possible, but from day one I had always hoped that I could land a position like this,” Jessica adds.   Who knows what’s next for her at Arise?

Jessica’s journey also reminds me of a similar path my own sister took with an online tutoring company.  As a certified teacher, she began tutoring students virtually (from home) in 2004, and has taken on additional roles with the company since – as team leader, evaluator, and temporary supervisor – making more and more money along the way.   Knowing my sister well, this isn’t a surprise to me, as she was always an overachiever and destined for success in whatever she tackled.  And I can say that this advancement was certainly unexpected when she first began working from home, initially thinking of the job as a way to make some extra money while she cared for her three children.

The point of sharing these stories is to show that even if you are a virtual employee, by choice or design, there are still opportunities to “climb the ladder” from home.  Anyone with the right combination of commitment, determination and the needed skill set will rise within an organization, whether visually present or not. 

I’d like to share some tips for “rising the ranks from home” that I learned from both Jessica and my sister:

• Be Available – Home-based workers can sometimes have the cachet that they’re actually lounging by the pool when they should be assembling a power point presentation.  To maintain and elevate your reputation in the minds of supervisors, be available and prompt in responding to phone calls, e-mails and chat requests.

• Virtual Professionalism – As a remote worker, your typing and phone skills are of utmost importance – for both speed and accuracy.  It is imperative to create a “virtual reputation” of utmost professionalism, so be mindful of your communication skills in a home-based work arrangement – they will take you a long way.

• Show Commitment and Flexibility – Companies want to reward workers who “buy into” what they are selling and truly believe in the organization’s mission.  Especially in the beginning – be flexible and show that you are in it for the long haul.

• Express Your Goals to Corporate Decision-Makers – If you know of advancement opportunities within your organization, and you know that the company values your contributions, don’t be shy in expressing your desire to move up or take on more responsibility even though you are telecommuting.  In this way, you can avoid an “out of sight, out of mind” promotion oversight. 

Maintaining excellent relationships with clients should be a top priority for anyone who provides services; sadly, some ignore the basics. Here is my top five list of “what not to do”:

1. Learn on the client’s dime.
   Don’t be shy to take on a project even if you are not sure that you have the skills and experience to do it; particularly if you are on a per diem or hourly arrangement. After all, whatever you learn while you are on the clock for this client, you’ll know for your next project.
2. Blame the client.
   This is particularly effective when you have failed to estimate project costs appropriately. Tell the client that you can’t be responsible for “scope creep”; not only will you get paid for you but you didn’t know (see #1), but you will introduce guilt into the dynamic.
3. Don’t deliver on time.
   Deadlines are made to be compromised. Your client won’t mind a little slippage here and there; he/she will understand that you are busy.
4. Share your problems with your client.
   Be open about the fact that you have personal problems, technological problems, competing projects etc. Your client, a nice person, will surely understand and make allowances given your troubles.
5. Let your client know you don’t trust him/her.
   Insist on being paid regardless of your failures. Don’t try to rectify the damage you’ve done, trusting that the client will abide by your agreement. Stop work if the client withholds payment; it’ll probably cost your client a lot of time and added expense to hire someone else to finish up what you failed to deliver.

Of course there are more obvious ways to damage a client relationship — for example, not responding in a timely manner to the client’s questions. Rest assured, however, adding these to the mix will ensure you will never get more business or referrals from this client. So keep up your marketing efforts!

TAGS: entrepeneurs, fixing mistakes, growing your business