Hey all! Check out the following from Shelagh Cummins – she has some great insight into mom and solo preneurs and is coming to Chicago at the end of January with a workshop to help you get moving on your business.  When you register for the event and use code hope100 you will save $100!

On Entrepreneurship

Are you overworked, overtired, and overstressed because there simply aren’t enough hours in a day to work on your business?

Are you tired of struggling with your business?

Are you stuck in a rut and going in circles with your business?

Nearly 11 million American women and one million Canadian women will own a

small business by the end of 2010. The majority of those women are moms. The reality is 8 out of those 10 businesses will fail before they reach their 3^rd year.

Why? In a nutshell… time, planning, investment, commitments and support.

Are you going to be a part of the 80% who fail or the 20% who succeed?

The Top 5 Reasons Mom Entrepreneur Businesses Struggle.

1. Time

Being a mom is a full time job on its own.  Starting a business is a full job on its own too.  Combine the two and stand back – fireworks may erupt. Understanding how to leverage your talents and your strengths while maximizing you time is a critical component to business success.

 2.      Planning

Much like an Olympic athlete follows a set training plan and a road trip require a map – knowing and understanding the direction of your business is vital. It is so easy to stray from your path by the latest and greatest idea – and sabotage all progress to growth.  Growth happens most effectively in a structured manner. Being crystal clear on your company’s goals and objectives in a well written business plan is your secret weapon. Too many businesses fail because they don’t take the time to annually plan and map out their direction.

3.      Investment

Your business needs three investments to flourish; time, energy and money. It’s the money piece that many business owners don’t have.  It would be so nice if we all had deep pockets on which to draw… but the reality is we don’t… and we don’t need to. Starting a business should never, ever put your family’s financial security in jeopardy.  Some risks are simply not worth it.  There are steadfast ways to minimize your financial investment and maximize your output to grow your business. Understanding how to mitigate the risk and increase efficiencies and systems should be the cornerstone of all entrepreneurs knowledge base.

4.      Commitments

We know mom entrepreneurs are committed to their families… they also need to be committed to their business. Understanding how to make money while balancing work you love and taking care of your family is the key to be a successful mom entrepreneur. You can do it all, and there are plenty of hours in the day.

5.      Support

Mom entrepreneurs bring a certain skill set and knowledge base to their business. Naturally, they then come face to face with the seemingly immovable “what next” wall. All too often, entrepreneurs either don’t know who to ask, or are afraid to ask for help. Their business then goes in circles and hits a plateau – and sometimes initiates a down slide. It is so important to surround oneself with knowledgeable and supportive people to keep a business growing.

Lara Galloway and Shelagh Cummins know and understand why mom businesses fail. That is why they offer MomBizRetreats throughout the year – to give mom entrepreneurs the opportunity to work on their business instead of in it. The MomBizRetreat provides tools, techniques and strategies to help mom entrepreneurs better manage their businesses, their families and their lives.

At the Mom Biz Retreat, participants leave with:

• A Time Map to provide clarity of when you are actually available to work.

• A clear picture of the viabilty of your business and a better understanding of what we can modify to make it more sustainable

• A rockin’ elevator pitch that gives you the confidence to market yourself and qualify your clients

• An EASE Mindset designed to help you do only the work you love with clients you love to serve.

• A well-designed business model that helps you leverage your expertise and keep your customers coming back for more.

• Your engagement marketing strategy so you know where to find your target audience and how to build relationships with them.

• Specific systems and support structures to allow you to grow and prosper.

• A one page business plan for next 12 months.

• A weekend away to work ON your business, not IN it

I know several friends who manage facebook pages and work on other Social Media campaigns for clients.  More than once, I’ve received e-mails telling me about the accounts they are managing, inviting me to like if I’m interested.  More than once, this has been something I’ve been interested in and I like or follow when I’m truly interested in the product.

What I don’t like and what is REALLY poor form is asking your friends to “like” a fan page because you need more followers.  I received the following email via FB asking just that:

XXX XXX11:04am Jul 3rd

Subject: Support my Social Media Strategist career

I having been working as a Social Media intern (oldest intern EVER) for the past few weeks. I have the goal of increasing LIKES about 20% which I can easily accomplish with all my friends and family! Please take a moment to LIKE this page and follow my stories at XXXX!
Thanks for your support!

http://www.facebook.com/XXXX

Why is this bad:

The subject line and the entire email is about the consultant, not the brand.   When you are working on behalf of a client, it’s not about you.  It’s about THEM.  The goal should be to talk about the brand and encourage people to like the page because they like the product, not you.   Getting fans for the sake of getting fans is such a base, lame strategy.  The key is to get as many QUALITY, ENGAGED fans as possible.

What can they do to do better next time:

Don’t tap your friends unless it’s really a good fit.  Friends may seem like low hanging fruit, but just make sure that you are targeting friends that will truly be interested in the fan page audience you are building, or you friends will get burnt out as your customer list grows.

Talk about your brand.  The email above says NOTHING about even the name of the product.  It just gave some acronym.  Be clear!  If it isn’t a ultra common acronym – Like AT&T or IBM, spell it out in parentheses.  Make it obvious.  Say a little bit about the brand and why the friends you are emailing would be interested in liking.

Give your friends or others you tell about the brand the OPTION of liking it.  EG:  I’m working with a new client, XYZ and they are promoting health and fitness classes.  Since you are interested in health and fitness, I thought you might want to “like” the page.  We’ll be posting information about healthy eating and living and will also be listing class information.  If this interested you “like” away!

NEVER make it about yourself or reaching a goal if your friends like the page.  Remember.  It’s NOT about you.

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Full disclosure – I’m the Social Media Director for Suite Partners and have been working on the Social Media for So You Wanna be a Designer.  I’ll be updating the blog with pics and the latest news as soon as I can.  You can also get updates by following my tweets @windycitysocial!

Tuesday, March 29th, 2011

In this week’s episode, six of Chicago’s up and coming designers compete to see who can come up with new unique ways to use Threadless tees to create re-purposed items.  Check out the pics from their visit to the Threadless office when the case was announced on Tuesday

Viewers can watch the show live and vote for their favorite designer on Kenmore’s Facebook page <http://www.facebook.com/kenmore?ref=ts#!/kenmore?sk=app_189156207786598>

The show is every Thursday night now through May 12th from 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm CST.  Voting is open from 7:00 pm – 7:50pm”

Friday, March 25th, 2011

So You Wanna be a Designer

Last night was the premier episode of So You Wanna be a Designer, (#SYWBAD is the hashtag on twitter), an 8-week long on-line competition that will be held at the Kenmore Live Studio in Chicago, Illinois.  Six hand selected fledgling designers will compete each against each other for a grand prize of $20,000 and a Kenmore Elite Washer and Dryer.  Along the way they will learn from fashion insiders as they vie to be the last one standing.

During the premier episode Debbie Jagel (@ootragirl on twitter) and her hilarious side kick Isaac King introduced the show concept, the designers and a surprise task of dressing up a little black dress. You can watch the show live every Thursday night between now and May 12th, 7:00 pm – 8:00pm CST on Kenmore’s Facebook fan page.  You can even vote for YOUR favorite designer from 7:00pm – 7:50pm.  Here’s the link to watch the show.  If you have trouble getting into the viewing app, make sure your settings are not set to secure — I know, I like to use the secure browser too, but just turn it off to watch the show and then turn it back on.

Here are the contestants.  Who do you think will go all the way?