Simple Steps to Protect Your Business from Cybercrime
Reports of cyberattacks are increasing in frequency, with small businesses becoming bigger targets because they typically have not invested in security technology to the degree that larger corporations have. Many also lack internal policies and procedures designed to thwart access to sensitive data. The FBI’s 2020 Internet Crime Report found that the cost of cybercrimes […]
Grow Your Business with Word-of-Mouth Marketing
Fifty percent of Americans would choose word-of-mouth, meaning recommendations from family and friends, if they had to choose one source of information regarding a potential purchase. That’s the power of word-of-mouth marketing, which is based on trust and credibility. In fact, 41% of Americans trust word-of-mouth recommendations over social media suggestions. Yet, surprisingly, only 33% […]
6 No-Cost Ways to Support Other Women Business Owners
The number of woman-owned businesses continues to rise, reports the US Census Bureau, and those with employees account for nearly 20% of all US businesses. When you add in women solopreneurs, that percentage rises to 42% of all businesses in the country. And women of color own half of all woman-owned companies. The rise of […]
Grow Your Influence with Public Speaking
Public speaking is one of the most effective and least expensive marketing tools available. If you have more time than money right now to grow your business, think about doing some public speaking. As the person in the front of the room sharing information, you’re the de facto authority on your topic. You’re the expert. […]
Yes, You Need a LinkedIn Page
Although we’ve been hearing a lot about video and image-based social media platforms, like TikTok and Snapchat and Instagram, LinkedIn is where you can make valuable business connections. Becoming active on LinkedIn can connect you to people who may want to do business with you, as well as with potential new hires, with potential joint […]
Ways to Hire Top Talent When You Can’t Afford to Pay Top Dollar
When faced with a choice between hiring an inexperienced employee and an award-winning superstar, most organizations would prefer to hire the superstar. The hitch is that the superstar’s compensation expectations may exceed what a smaller company can afford. It may be possible to rationalize bringing them on board and cutting budgets in other areas to […]
6 Ways to Show Gratitude to Your Clients that Cost Next to Nothing
It’s customary in many industries for companies to give their customers gifts of some kind during the holiday season. For example, beauty salons often give clients small samples of beauty products in appreciation for their business. Accounting firms sometimes mail out annual calendars for the coming year. Salespeople have been known to hand out jars […]
How to Pitch Local Media Outlets
While your business may serve a national or even global customer base, your local news and broadcast outlets are likely to be the most interested in learning about your company. Since their purpose is reporting on local people, organizations, and events, news about you and your business fits right into what many area media outlets […]
How to Improve Your Company’s Profitability
Although many business owners focus on sales as the most important metric of success, profitability, or how much you have left after you pay all your bills, is actually a much better measure of how well you’re doing. Profits are what allow you to grow and expand. They also determine whether you can afford to […]
How to Set Up a Simple Loyalty Program
One big lesson that has come out of the pandemic is the value of customer loyalty. Loyal customers not only spend more, but they also serve as business ambassadors, attracting new customers to their favorite small businesses. An often-cited statistic for spending, which originated with Bain & Company in 1991, is that loyal customers spend […]
Beyond Banks: Financing Options for Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners
Many entrepreneurs are disappointed to find that banks generally won’t lend money to startups and early-stage ventures unless the business owner already has funds available, collateral, a solid business plan, and a solid credit rating. When you’re just starting out, there aren’t many women business owners who can check all the boxes that banks frequently […]
How to Take a Day Off from Work
As we slide into the fall season, many entrepreneurs may be wondering what happened to summer. When was that break we were supposed to take? The reality is that after too many months of an ongoing pandemic, we all need a break. Even a day. Just some time for self-care and relaxation, when we stop […]
What You Can Do to Improve Cash Flow
Ask entrepreneurs what the life blood of their business is and many would probably say sales. And they’re not wrong. Sales, or paying customers, are essential for a company to stay in business. Without sales revenue, the business closes its doors. But the truth is that cash flow, which is the speed with which cash […]
The First 9 Things to Do During Startup
Starting a new business is both an exciting and a nerve-wracking time. Exciting because of all the possibilities ahead of you and nerve-wracking because of all you don’t yet know. The good news is that you can learn as you go. Everyone does, in fact. However, the more you know in advance, the faster success […]
Women Business Owners, Do You Need Business Insurance?
In a word, yes. You need insurance of some type to keep your company up-and-running long-term. Insurance is a tool to help mitigate some of the risks associated with running a business and having employees, both of which open you up to liability. “If you have a business and hope to survive, you’ll want to […]
How Pivoting Your Business Model Can be a Win
More than 4 in 10 women business owners had to pivot their business model to maintain revenue during the pandemic, according to American Express’ Entrepreneurial Spirit Trendex, conducted in 2020. 68 percent expected they would have to again in 2021. By pivot, we mean fundamentally changing the company’s business model in order to react to […]
Email Marketing Basics Every Woman Business Owner Should Know
In a study of 1,000 small business owners, email marketing ranked second as the most effective medium for branding and first for return on investment (ROI), according to a 2019 Campaign Monitor report. And when asked which marketing methods were expected to be relevant in 10 years, email marketing was tops. We asked women business […]
10 Marketing Books Every Entrepreneur Should Have on their Bookshelf
by Marcia Layton Turner Success or failure in business often comes down to marketing. Developing a product or service that people want and are willing to pay for, that you can sell at a price that generates a profit, is at the core of building a sustainable company. Master that and you can build a […]
How to Hire Someone You’ve Never Met
Small businesses are looking to hire more workers, according to NFIB’s monthly jobs report for February 2021. The report found that “56% of small business owners reported hiring or trying to hire in February, up 5 points from January.” While that’s certainly good news for the economy, many companies are having trouble filling the openings […]
Interview with $25,000 Amber Grant Recipient Savhera
Recently, WomensNet Advisory Board member Yamalis Hernandez sat down for an interview with 2020 year-end Amber Grant-winner Vanessa Bouche. You can learn all about her company, Savhera, in the video interview above — or you can browse the transcript below. A special thanks to Vanessa for her time. Yamalis Hernandez Today we are talking to […]
What You Should Know about Crowdfunding on Kickstarter
With so many questions being asked in the WomensNet Facebook group recently about Kickstarter, we turned to Katheryn Thayer, director of brand content at Kickstarter, for the inside scoop on what types of projects and businesses are most successful at crowdfunding. Here’s what she shared with us: WomensNet: Could you give us a little history […]
When You Should Pay Someone Else to Do the Work
Startup entrepreneurs are notoriously frugal. Many guard their pennies, often attempting to negotiate for the best price possible, or decide to do work themselves so as not to have to part with any cash. They work to keep plenty of money in their bank account, in case a slow period or downturn occurs. They want […]
Are you Building a Lifestyle Business or a Sellable Asset?
Female entrepreneurship has been hot for decades. There are currently more than 12.3 million women-owned businesses in the US, reports Fundera, and that number climbed by 1,821 every day in 2019. Currently, 40% of all US businesses are now owned by women. However, women-owned ventures lag on a number of fronts, including financing and revenue […]
Amber Grant Application Critique: Trikona Yoga
Annalise Freytag shares her very personal struggle with mental health challenges and substance abuse as the reason behind the founding of her future Chicago-based yoga studio, Trikona Yoga. The details of her personal history demonstrate how effective yoga can be and how passionate she is about building a business that provides such services. Although Annalise’s […]
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