Early-stage woman-owned businesses looking for educational support should consider applying to be a Tory Burch Foundation Fellow. Applications are due by November 19, 2019.

Up to 50 Tory Burch Foundation Fellows will be selected and asked to commit to participate in a one-year program that includes:

• A $5,000 grant to be invested in their business education.
• A five day visit to the Tory Burch campus in Jersey City, New Jersey, paid for by the Foundation. During the visit, Fellows will participate in experiential learning workshops on entrepreneurship and leadership development led by guest experts.
• Additional educational programs and networking events.
• Ten Fellows will be invited to pitch their businesses to potential investors.

The educational opportunity can be a workshop, conference, class, or other event.

To apply, you must:

• Be a woman business owner and own a majority stake in the for-profit company, which is between one and five years old (considered early stage)
• Be an active owner, meaning involved in the business on a daily basis
• Be over the age of 21
• Be generating at least $75,000 in revenue through the business
• Be proficient in English
• Be a legal resident of the US

As part of the application, be prepared to share your résumé, business plan, personal statement, and know how you want to spend the $5,000 educational grant.

According to the Fellows website, judges “will take into consideration multiple factors including how your business creates positive and lasting impact, what unique factors differentiate your business, what problems you are trying to solve for, how your business reflects your passion, the substance and quality of your business plan, what obstacles you have overcome, and your investment opportunities.”

The 2019 Tory Burch Fellows learned from experts that included authors Seth Godin and Kelly Hoey, Instagram’s Emilie Fife, PureWow’s chief content officer Mary Kate McGrath, and The Muse co-founder and CEO Kathryn Minshew. They visited area companies and tapped into the network and expertise of other Fellows.

To be considered, complete the free application online.

Decisions will be made in April 2020 and Fellows contacted at that time.

That first year in business is one of the hardest. You’re learning how to sell your products and services while simultaneously figuring out how to build a business. It’s a lot like flying a plane while you build it, as the saying goes.

The good news is that the vast majority of small businesses do survive their first year. In fact, a resounding 79.8% were still in business after Year 1, according to the US Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy. That’s not to say surviving and thriving are easy. That first year provides many opportunities for growth.

So if you think back to the biggest and most important lessons you learned that first year as a business owner, what would they be? Or as you’re creating the foundations for your business during your own first year, what have you learned so far?

We asked dozens of women entrepreneurs that question and distilled their answers down to the five we thought were the most insightful. You surely had your own five biggest lessons, and they may be completely different from this list. But as you continue to grow your venture, these may be lessons you need to learn now.

• The people you hire at the start may not be able to grow with you. Paige Arnof-Fenn, founder and CEO of Mavens & Moguls marketing consulting firm, learned that lesson the hard way, she says. Her mistake that first year was “not getting rid of weak people earlier…I spent more time managing them than finding new customers.” Loyalty is what led her to hold onto them even when they were no longer the best choice for the roles they were in. 

“As soon as I let them go, the culture got stronger and the bar higher,” she says. Hire slowly and fire quickly is now her mantra.

• Prioritize what skills you should learn, rent, or buy. Juli Lassow, founder and principal of JHL Solutions retail business consulting and management firm, strongly advises assessing your areas of strength so you can build your business around your “superpowers.” Then “focus on what needs you can’t meet today and quickly decide how you’ll want to address the gaps,” says Lassow. She sees the options as learning the skill yourself, such as the basics of social media; outsourcing tasks to an expert, such as if you need a website designed and don’t see yourself needing that skill regularly; or buying tools or systems that will help you solve issues or fill a need.

“For technical areas of expertise, such as legal or accounting services, I would highly encourage that you prioritize your funds to hire an expert. The upfront investment will help you build a stronger foundation and save you money in the long run,” says Lassow.

• Set boundaries for yourself. “The first six months are tough because there is no groundwork to build off of,” says Ashley Lim, founder and CEO of Mansa Tea, a handcrafted aged tea company. You have to do everything from scratch, for the first time. “From product planning to supply chain management to marketing, there is so much on your plate and not enough time,” Lim says. Feeling overwhelmed is common and possibly preventable, by taking breaks, setting limits on what you expect of yourself each day, and being willing to hand off tasks that you don’t personally need to tackle, such as bookkeeping, ordering supplies, or creating online content. 

Saloni Doshi, CEO of EcoEnclose, a sustainable shipping supplies company, avoids overwhelm by mapping out her priorities each month. “Then each week, I plan how much time I’d like to spend on each one. It’s a great way to make sure you’re organized, hitting your goals, and making time for the things that matter,” Doshi says.

• Test your product, again, and again, and again. Lori Cheek, founder and CEO of Cheekd, a Bluetooth mobile dating app, learned from not testing her website before earning major publicity. “When we got covered in the New York Times nearly five years ago, we got site traffic from all over the world until Cheekd crashed,” Cheek says. Once back up, the company started getting orders from customers nationwide. “It was the biggest day in the history of Cheekd,” she confirms.

But her jubilation turned to frustration when she discovered that the company’s web developer had toggled a button “off” to prevent customer credit card data from being captured and saved. That was problematic since Cheekd’s business model is based on a recurring subscription model that requires credit card data to be stored. She estimates the company lost on the order of $30,000 from hundreds of orders that couldn’t be renewed. Her takeaway? Test everything to make sure it works as you expect before launching.

• Communicate consistently with your customers. The number one reason that customers stop doing business with you is perceived indifference. According to the Peppers & Rogers Group, 60% of customers stop buying from you because they that they think you don’t care about them. How can you combat that? Be in touch. Send friendly emails to see how they’re doing, connect on social media, send out a newsletter, pick up the phone. Do all you can to show you care about your customers’ well-being as individuals, and not just people who spend money with you.

Alex Tran, a deals and lifestyle blogger at Schimiggy, quickly discovered that online customers appreciate talking to a live human. About 13% of her customers are repeat buyers, she says, who “do more than just purchase. They interact with me on social media and through my blog and I’ve become friends with many!”

That first year is tough, but as time goes on, you should be proud of all you’ve accomplished—the connections you’ve made, skills you’ve developed, network you’ve established, and recognition you’ve received as a result of your idea and your efforts.

Your second year in business may not be easier, but it will definitely be different, full of new ideas, customers, and experiences you can continue to learn from.

We recently received a question from an e-mailer who said, “I’d like to hear about no or low-cost marketing tools and ideas. Promoting a business as an independent woman operating as a team of one has its challenges.”

We agreed and wanted to offer some ideas for getting more bang for your marketing buck.

12 No-Cost or Low-Cost Marketing Tools

Starting and running a successful business takes time and money. In many cases, when you don’t have much time, you can spend money to delegate to other people and services. But when you don’t have much money, you have to invest more time to get things done.

Fortunately, when it comes to marketing, you don’t have to spend a lot of money to capture your audience’s attention, but it may take a little time initially before you see results.

The following are 12 free or low-cost marketing tools you should consider exploring, to raise awareness of your business and attract potential customers:

Free

Believe it or not, marketing doesn’t have to be expensive to be effective. In fact, some of the absolute best marketing tools are completely free. Yes, some may have paid versions as an upgrade option, but in most cases, the free account works just fine.

Publicity

The most effective way to attract new business is to get the media saying positive things about you. Whether in a magazine article, newspaper mention, TV show, or website quote, people like to be associated with success. So when they see your business attracting positive attention from established media outlets, you may be surprised by the calls and emails you receive.

There are two ways to land media exposure: 1) Write a press release and send it out in the hopes that a reporter will find it interesting or 2) Find out what reporters are already working on and suggest that you’d be a good source.

That second approach is far more effective and less expensive than the first. The website HelpAReporter.com, nicknamed HARO, sends out three emails a day during the work week announcing the types of sources reporters and editors are looking for. Reading those listings will tell you exactly what articles are planned.

Skim the listings to see which topics you might qualify for, or be qualified to talk about, and then email the writer to explain exactly why you’d be a good person to include.

The basic HARO subscription is free.

The key to succeeding with HARO is to respond quickly and take a couple of minutes to answer the reporter’s question or offer your advice. Yes, it does take time, but giving them what they’re looking for up front will significantly increase the odds that you’ll be quoted.

Social Media

You’re on social media everyday anyway, right? So it shouldn’t take much extra time to do some business.

Three platforms you’ll want to at least have a presence on are Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Believe it or not, Facebook is very active for business and a great way to find and interact with potential clients, at no cost. Set up a free business page (which is different from your personal profile) and start to share information of interest to your target business audience there.

Instagram (IG), which is very visual, is a great place to share news about your products and services and to give your audience a taste of how you do business, through photos. Although IG is free, you may want to invest a little money in some photography training, since snapping quality pics is essential on this site.

Although we don’t hear a lot about Pinterest for business, it’s another great place to share stunning visual imagery with a link to other content. For example, you could share a link to an article you’ve written on your blog with the cover image pinned, or some glamour shots of your products.

Given how easy it is to find and connect with other people using free social media platforms, they should be one of your first resources to leverage.

Groups

Related to sharing updates and news on social media, another great way to attract members of your target audience while positioning yourself as the expert is by setting up a Facebook group. Facebook groups are communities you can establish for free that can bring together groups of like-minded individuals for discussions, information-sharing, and networking.

Some companies create private customer groups and share special deals with members, while other business owners use Facebook groups as a way to encourage conversations that are related to their business.

For example, a veterinary practice could set up a Facebook group for dog lovers. A graphic design firm could set up a group for sharing best practices around logo creation. A grocery store could create a group to talk about recipes that include ingredients that are on sale that week.

To get a sense for what groups already exist, do a search within Facebook on a subject you’re interested in. You may be surprised by the depth and breadth of groups that are out there. See if you can come up with one that doesn’t already exist.

Networking

Another free social media site designed for business professionals is LinkedIn. You certainly want to be sure you have a professional LinkedIn profile created, so that potential customers can check you out. It’s a stealth research tool many businesses use.

Once you have your profile set up, be sure and share links to articles and blog posts you write there, too. And ask to connect with other businesses in your industry and individuals you’d like to have as clients.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

When potential customers go looking for businesses like yours online, you want to be sure that your company shows up on the first page of Google results. If it doesn’t, the odds of your business being found go way, way down. Most people don’t look at the results beyond that first page.

To improve your standing in Google results, register for a free account at SEMrush, to be able to conduct keyword research. With an account, you can perform 10 keyword searches a day at no charge. If you need more than that, you may want to consider paying for a subscription.

Keywords and phrases are the words your target customer uses to look for your products and services. You want to find out what they are so that you can use them on your website and in your blog posts, to help Google see that your business does what your prospects are after. Matching your verbiage to what prospects are searching for is what search engine optimization is all about.

For example, if you own a restaurant in Boston, MA, you may want to see whether more people are searching for “restaurant in Boston” or “restaurant in Back Bay” (a neighborhood in Boston) online. Or maybe “Italian restaurant in New England” or “Boston eatery.” Once you discover what wording most people are using, use the same terminology to describe what you’re offering.

Video

The percentage of information we now get from videos has skyrocketed in recent years. More people are watching TED Talks and instructional content as well as vlogs—video versions of blog posts—than ever before.

YouTube is the main video platform, which is free to post on. You can upload your own videos related to your company, such as product demonstrations, trouble-shooting instructions, or recent presentations made, for example.

You can also create your own YouTube channel and invite your audience to subscribe, so that they never miss future videos you post.

All for free. 

Low-Cost

In addition to the free promotional tools available, there are a few that are extremely useful but that will cost you a few bucks. Nothing crazy, but also not free.

Blogging

One of the best ways to get Google’s attention is to regularly post new content to your website. The easiest way to do that is through blogging, or writing and uploading short articles of interest to your target customers.

To do that, you’ll want to add a “blog” navigation tab to your website that is linked to WordPress.org. WordPress is a fairly easy-to-use blogging platform. While there is a free version you could use (at WordPress.com), don’t. Go with the paid WordPress version that offers the option to add apps that will attract more eyeballs to your blog. You also pay for hosting of your website and for the URL you want to direct people to.

If you need help setting up a website or attaching a blog, SUMY Designs may be able to help. SUMY has low-cost website templates available that will get you up-and-running quickly design-wise. You’ll still have to provide your own copy and images, but they can design the back end.

Newsletter

As you start to build a customer base, it’s a good idea to communicate with your prospects and clientele regularly. Sending informational emails in the form of a newsletter to their inbox is one way to do that, as long as you have their permission.

There are a couple of companies with systems that will help you manage your customer database and format and send newsletters out. One is Constant Contact and the other is MailChimp.

My sense is that Constant Contact may be easier to use, or at least you get more hand-holding, while MailChimp may be less expensive but require more of your time to become familiar with how it works.

Getting Started

Don’t feel like you need to immediately use all of these marketing tools. You don’t.

Start slowly and check out each one to be sure it’s going to help you build your business. Rank in order of priority which tool is going to make the most difference for your company.

For example, if you don’t have a website, put that near the top. You can’t start blogging or directing members of the media to learn more about you if you don’t have a website.

A newsletter, on the other hand, is something you can put off until you have, say, a mailing list of at least 100 customers and prospects.

Video, however, you can create even without a website.

But before you go spending tons of money on paid advertising or pricey promotions, invest your time in exploring these budget-friendly alternatives.

Believe it or not, the US government wants your small business to be successful. That’s because small businesses are a major growth engine for the US economy, so it’s in the government’s best interest to help new companies get started and to support existing businesses in need of guidance or capital.

As of 2018, 30.2 million small businesses—defined for this report as companies with fewer than 500 employees—comprised 99.9% of all US businesses, according to the “2018 Small Business Profile” published by the Small Business Administration (SBA).

To keep the economy strong, the government recognizes that it needs to help small businesses thrive. It does that in a number of ways, through a variety of organizations. Some are government agencies and others are nonprofits that are partially funded by government agencies. All provide free or low-cost services to help with starting and growing your business. Here are 8 places to check out:

America’s Small Business Development Centers (SBDC)

Funded in part by Congress and supported by US colleges and universities, SBDCs provide small businesses with free counseling and low-cost services. Many businesses use them for problem-solving, help finding resources, and networking. Check to find your local SBDC.

Association of Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (PTAC)

For advice and guidance in how to land the US government as a client, make an appointment with your local Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC). Get free one-on-one counseling to help set yourself up for success and identify potential government clients through matchmaking events sponsored through your PTAC.

Association of Women’s Business Centers (AWBC)

Though a non-profit, rather than a government agency, the Association of Women’s Business Centers is recommended by the SBA. The organization manages 100 centers nationwide dedicated to encouraging and supporting female entrepreneurs. The directory at the site of local women’s business centers is a good starting point for consulting and guidance.

Office of Women’s Business Ownership (OWBO)

This agency oversees the US government’s efforts to support women business owners through counseling, mainly. It is an office within the Small Business Administration.

Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE)

Sign up for mentoring, locate a consultant who can advise you with a particular business challenge you’re facing, or register for a live or recorded webinar or course through SCORE’s website.

Small Business Administration (SBA)

The federal government agency dedicated to helping entrepreneurs start and grow their ventures is the Small Business Administration. Through it many other agencies and programs are funded, so this is a good place to start. At the SBA website you can find resources, take free online courses, and explore the various funding options for which you may qualify.

Women’s Business Centers (WBC)

Run by the Office of Women’s Business Ownership, WBCs nationwide work with women business owners to level the playing field in starting and running their firms. Use the map to locate the WBC nearest you.

Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC)

Though not a government agency, WBENC is a powerhouse when it comes to certifying women business owners. It is particularly helpful if your goal is to supply major corporations. Get certified, for a fee, attend a conference, and network with fellow women business owners through WBENC.

These organizations exist, and most are funded, specifically to help women business owners get the information and guidance they need to scale and succeed. While leaders within these organizations may refer you elsewhere, start here to see what you can get for free first.