Inspiring Female Entrepreneur - Karen Darby

I've just discovered this wonderful entrepreneur from the UK called, Karen Darby. Here's a woman says she felt she knew she wanted to run her own business from around the age of 8. She took on lots of jobs as a youngster, and lied about her age to get a job at a laundromat. She set up her own telemarketing company at the age of 22, and after 7 years had 200 employees and was making 4 million pounds. In the 90's she had two kids and started to work for herself again, training up customer call centers. In 2003 she set up a new business called, 'simplyswitch'. She was thoroughly passionate about the business as it was responsible for helping people get a good deal on switching between services (phone, energy, etc). She loved the business, and finally decided the time to sell the company in 2006 for 22 million pounds (approx $44M). Below is her list of top tips for success, and here's a link to a terrific interview with her - full of much sound advice and wonderful insight on the why behind her decisions.

Here's her tip list to succeed as an entrepreneur.

Do what you love
Create a white hot burning desire
Create leverage – commit to doing something with determination
Maintain a laser beam focus on your business idea
Use someone else’s money – seek funding opportunities
Be a rhino – learn how to handle rejection
Employ smart people + network like crazy – surround yourself with a strong team
Be enthusiastic
Live the brand – you are the best possible PR for your company
Give yourself a check up form the neck up on a regular basis
Hypnotize yourself – tell yourself you’re wonderful and your ideas are
wonderful
Know when not to listen – especially to negative comments
Double your failure rate
And remember most of all - timing is everything.

Transferring Passion for Shoes to Technology? How Could That Be Possible?

Christina Tynan-Wood writes a simple yet direct article on why there aren't more women in technology and why they are needed on the Product Design and Development site. She recounts a time in 1996 when she was the @home technology editor for PC World, and after spending time with the 'suits' presenting new home computers asked why they were so ugly if they were for the home. At that time she was brushed aside. Yet, really home PC for the home should be more attractive - she had a point. She mentions that while men may say that women are the ones who are fussy about trend and color in fact men are actually possibly more fussy. Women put up with the black technology that is obviously geared to men's decor, whereas make it for women and men won't use it. (Isn't this true of women being more accommodating of seeing block buster male movies, than insisting taking partners to women movies? - too darn accommodating is our problem at times).

So yes, she says today it's more important than ever that we speak up and let it be known we want choice. I love her comparison to shoes. Have technologists not realized how much insane money women spend on shoes - it's completely irrational spending but a wonderful defining experience. And thank you Christina also for saying that we can't say what those technologies will look like because we don't have a room full of women designing the technologies. A possible example is some research done at HP Labs, where they have used their color matching technology to assist women in finding the perfect foundation make-up shade - this is applying technologies previously used for color copiers for more creative uses - yes there were women in the room when the idea came up.

Make the Path Easier for Next Gen

So 40% of all businesses in America are owned by women, but only 20% of the women owned businesses make more than $1M. Of those that are making the big money 80% of them say they belong to a formal business organization or network. Making those connections, networking and getting mentoring truly make a difference. If you have an opportunity to provide a helping hand to women owned businesses do - it makes a difference. Rivea Lesonsky, in a Bizjournals post, points to the need to pass on experience and assistance and don't make those that follow in your footsteps have to learn all the mistakes themselves because there was no one to teach you. How true that is. I am committed to working the change of empowering women to be who they are and achieve what they desire, and know it will take more than a lifetime to succeed. I do it to make a path a little less challenging for my daughters.

Women Are Better Marketers. What Does That Mean?

Here's a comprehensive article on why women make better marketing people than men from Branding Strategy Insider. The author even drives home the point that when you look in most marketing departments, sure the most highly paid marketer is probably going to be a guy but the actual best marketer is likely to be a woman. What does that tell us?

The article has so many complimentary points as to why you'd want a woman as your marketer, and so much resonated in general with the world I have worked in, like, males tend to want to step into the limelight when product launches are heralded, whereas women are more about the right people being forward to represent the brand. A fine example was given in Rose-Marie Bravo, chief executive of Burberry. She hired a designer, creative director to become her spokesperson for the brand whenever the press needed to engage in brand rather than step into the limelight herself. Right thing for the brand, but would a guy have been as willing to take a back seat?

One take away from the article should be for women in marketing to have confidence and ask for more recognition - you are worth it.

No Movement for Women in Top Earner Numbers

New numbers came out today looking at the percentage of top earners that are women in the US - and that percent would be .... 6.2% which is basically the same number as last year 6.7%. (Catalyst). Across the board there were no gains in number of directors on board of companies (15.1%), and number of corporate officer positions being held by women (15.7%).

The manager of the research is optimistic change is in the air in a good way for women next year but not based on fact but their feeling about how Obama is making up his cabinet with women and minorities. Unfortunately I am not as optimistic given the economic climate. As jobs become fewer, opportunities close, and the need for a strong network will be more important than ever.

Strong correlation between female senior executives and strong financial performance

A piece of research by McKinsey suggests that there is a strong correlation between having high numbers of women senior executives and stronger financial performance. Companies with this make-up also have a stronger opportunity to draw from a larger talent pool as talent is in short supply.

Unfortunately I don't have access to the research at the moment, but I will be on the look out for additional quotes from this particular study. It's not the first time there have been positive correlations between financial performance and having women senior executives in the company. However the more data we have to support this situation the better and the more diverse the types of company the better. The previous research I saw was based primarily on the financial industry.

More Products Aim at Female Audience

Oooooh two new products targeted at women, how do you like them?

First is a wrist watch from Sony Ericsson that has built-in blue tooth. As someone who still doesn't really use a cell phone (long story, but so far has worked to my advantage) I'm not sure how to rate it, however the features are cool in the way that I use to think being a spy could be a glamorous adventurous job - I'd glance at my watch to see who is calling on the phone. It will also vibrate when a text is sent, and can hook up to a blue-tooth ear piece to accept a call. However I'm not entirely sure on the watch design - I may lack cell phone cool, but I happen to be a watch wearer and these don't really hit my bar for trendy watches. HOWEVER - I credit companies for trying to address the female audience, we're a tough crowd but when they get fashion and technology in sync someone is going to have a huge success.
Next up is Audio Technica headphones, they claim designed for women. They come in an array of different colors, and colorful tins to keep the earbuds in. They claim to be with 'superior comfort designed for women' but the proof is in women finding them comfortable - I would hate to think someone launched into a new range of hardware without considering the anthropomorphic differences of the audience they're targeting.

So two product areas where companies are trying to blend technology and fashion to address women. I'd like to meet their engineering/design teams to understand the gender mix of the groups - are these products designed by men for women, or mix gender teams?
Bottom-line -- keep trying the innovations aimed at women, I really appreciate it.

Traditional views of women's roles by men have implications for women's careers

As this research is out there I feel I need to comment on it, though I have a lot of questions about the sample of the population studied and details of the study. Research from the University of Florida reports that men with more traditional views of women will get higher pay than men with more gender equality views.

I would be interested to delve into their political beliefs and also the type of homes they grew up in and the roles their parents played (both working or not, single). I would also like to see information on salaries that compare women with stay-at-home husbands compared to women with working husbands. I have been surprised by how many senior women I've met whose husband are at home.

The participants in the study are between 39 and 47 years old. They had to rate statements on gender roles. The difference in salary was$8500 between men with a traditional view, and those with less traditional views.

In a less generous mood I might wonder how many women did these men step on to move on up the ladder, and how many are they blind to potential to grow after them. This does have implications for impacting women's careers but I need to see the complete study to know what we're truly discussing here.

College Can be Dangerous for Your Confidence

This article relates closely to the previous posting that women could so benefit from a boost in their confidence. They can do it, they really can but for some reason we keep under playing our abilities because of our lack of confidence. Take a look at this article by Kathy Wyer she reports on some research at UCLA on academic accomplishments, abilities, and personal traits. Linda J. Sax, associate researcher, has been reviewing the data - men are entering college in fewer numbers and less academically engaged, but during the college experience become strongly influenced by academic faculty and develop intellectual self-confidence at a greater rate to women. I'm interested to know more about how she evaluates academic ability and self-confidence - during the college years from her research it appears to impact gender, what does the growth look like after a few years in the work place?

Linda draws several conclusions from her research related to several areas including: academic engagement, interaction with faculty, health and well-being, staying close to home, and selection of majors and careers. Her research can be found in her recent published book: The Gender Gap in College: Maximizing the Potential of Women and Men.

Wait a Minute - Where are the Women Going?

After growing in number for a few years the number of female CEOs in the Bay Area is declining. Why is this?

Fewer women received venture capital funding in 2007, and there are fewer women in CEO positions, only 13 in the bay areas largest 400 companies/Fortune 500 companies. The article published in the San Francisco Business Times, by Lindsay Riddell. They quote Wendy Beecham as saying more women are opting out than there were 10 years ago. They also quote that percentage of female CEOs receiving venture capitalist funding was at 3% for 2007. Why don't more women receive funding?

Two issues come up - first, when asking venture capitalists who do they lend money too - they say people they know - because women have smaller networks that automatically reduces the number of women who are going to get an opportunity to get funding. A second issue is also how big a game you talk. Women are more likely to be conservative with their success estimates, thus putting them in a less strong position when negotiating and trying to win funding.

So the numbers for 2007 map to a story we have heard before: we need to get out and network with all that will be useful to us, not just women, AND next time up our success capability.

Lighting Up Fashion With Technology

I discovered some inspiring work today, or rather a creative friend pointed me to the work of Leah Buechley. She's currently a PhD student at the University of Boulder. Her area of focus is to combine technology and textiles and what super creations she's coming up with, and she's also making it approachable for others.

Some of her projects use fabric-based iron-on circuits also known as 'fabric PCBs' (Printed circuit boards), some small electronic sequins. Its a wonderful creative combination of sewing craft and technology.

I love her efforts to make accessible science with textile with such projects as math handbags, where she offered a Science Discover workshop for 11-14 year old students could use her graphing program to create their own math graph bags and other items.

Leah's philosophy of wanting to combine science and technology with more 'feminine' activities (as she puts it) is close to my own intentions. In the summer I blogged about the concern I had when my kids at science camp were becoming bored of boats, boats, boats, or planes, planes, planes, they needed more of Leah's philosophy injected into the plan.

I can not do justice to the breadth of inventiveness of Leah's work and highly recommend taking a look at her projects including LED clothing, sewing circuits, quilt snaps, LED bracelets. I myself might actually invest in some of the electronic sequins - my girls would certainly love to have something other than buttons on the clothes I make for them (btw I am not the dress maker my mother was but can just about sew a dress but my speciality is Halloween costumes where impression over accuracy is what matters!).

Yes, Yes - More Thoughtful Efforts on Technologies for Women!

It was fun to read the blog posting yesterday, 'No Pink Phones - A New Twist on Technology for Women'. I have tried to keep my blog postings also free of pink-ness where possible, because making a current technology pink doesn't mean to say it's addressing the womens market.

I credit Dr. Ying Chen for setting up La-Yin with putting her action where her heart is and setting up her own business to, 'create experiences for modern women by fusing High-Tech together with fashion and style'. The products from La-Yin currently includes different styles of USB keys, laptop covers, mobile straps.

It would be wondeful to see some of this exterior technology style influence the technology itself. What are womens needs of the items that we are attracted to dress up. For instance consider the Amazon Kindle (reader), imagine if that was designed for a female audience how might it differ in design? are there any distinct features or aesthetics that should be considered differently to accomodate needs? I haven't yet had an opportunity to use one, however what I'd like to see again is if the product team was predominantly female in the first place and considering a predominantly female market how may the product have emerged differently. Today its often consideration after the fact. Take a look at the Kindle and see how you might design it differently.

Through the Glass Ceiling and You May Face a Glass Cliff

An article in Business Week refreshes the notion that women in top positions sometimes find themselves facing glass cliffs, a term coined by a paper from 2005. They explain that there is more attention on women that fail, but critics sometimes fail to acknowledge that the situation the woman entered was already a tough situation where a company was in decline. When women are struggling to 'right the ship' it is difficult. Women are often isolated in their position of leadership with less mentors and a smaller network to leverage to weather the storm.

So the next time you hear about a senior woman being dismissed or relegated remember to ask yourself what the situation was like before they entered the position. Remember to give them a second chance. A significant portion of women in science, engineering and technology feel that when they fail they rarely get a second chance.

Mentoring Women Across Countries

I am always pleased to read about programs like this: Northwood University mentoring helps Afghan women better market their goods and ideas. There are so many women in the world that are trying to make a living (and lets remember a living in many countries is just that - enough money to feed their family and keep them sheltered). A small amount of mentoring can make a big difference to how successful their businesses can be. In this article Zainul Arab Meire, from Afghanistan is learning to that should can make products from beeswax such as hand cream and lip gloss to make additional money than that from honey which she sells in Kabul. There are also women attending the mentoring course who are working in construction industry as well.

Small gestures of mentoring can have large impact of women's lives when they return to their countries.

Ambition abounds in women around the world

I read a nice story today that demonstrates that ambition, focus and determination can help you get results in the world of business. Voice of America reported on UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) and a program called EMPRETEC which trains entrepreneurs, men and women, to develop skills and grow their businesses. The article comments that 40-50% of enterprises in developing countries are owned by women.

The article focuses on Sapphira Nyabunwa who set up a cleaning business in Uganda. She not only cleans but also offers lawn care services, defumigation, and laundry among other services, and has large clients in health care, hotels, and government. She talks of her path to setting up the business on her own. The endearing part of the article isn't simply another woman based business but the ambition it has instilled in her daughter to own her own business when she grows up. Role models are so incredibly important in the next generation.

Sapphira received second prize in the Women in Business awards now set up by EMPRETEC to award successful role models.

The first prize went to Sana Zaal Burgan, from Jordan, she had received EMPRETEC training earlier in her business career. One quote that I love is that from the training she, '...realized that I am not crazy and that thousands of entrepreneurs all over the world share my personality traits.'

A complete list of the nominees and prize winners can be found on the EMPRETEC website.

What a Day in Politics!

I was interested to find this video from the Blogher site where Erin Kotecki Vest has been attending the Democratic National Convention. She attended a panel entitled, Cracks in the Glass Ceiling. After the panel Erin interviewed the panelists, which included Marie Wilson from the White House Project. I happen to be a huge fan of Marie's book, 'Closing the Leadership Gap'. I completely agree that it is critical to get more women into politics because that is were some fundamental decisions get made that influence everything that follows. However I was a little disappointed to hear that the panelists were so keen to push for a percentage of women in government. This is a tough debate, I am still of the opinion that pushing for a quota if qualified candidates aren't available won't help the real cause.

There was an interesting turn of events later in the morning when John McCain announced his running mate to be Sarah Palen - this is a calculated vote generating move - how it plays out will come with time.

Why Are Lists of Powerful People Important?

Today Forbes posted a list they believe to be the most powerful 100 women in the world. The SFGates wrote an article highlighting that 5 women on the list come from the Bay area. It was interesting to read the comments left under the article. The posts mostly commented on the purpose of the list, or who should be higher on the list. However a numbered list of people is an easy article to write, and numbers in headlines apparently sell publications - I'm always interested in reviewing lists of people - this list brought to my attention some people I had not previously heard of like, Safra Catz President of Oracle, and Susan Decker, President of Yahoo! from the Bay area. Whenever I read about women who have made it to the top ranks it always instills a feeling of support, and thanks to them for pushing forward. Only 3% of corporations are run by women, so the article says. Many on the list are in politics, and the number one person on the list for the third year is Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor.

So why are lists of powerful women important - maybe it isn't scientific but it does get attention on women forging the way for others. Lots of work to do to even make that a double digit number. I wonder if there are any predictions on when that might happen?

Most Powerful Women - Take a Break and Be Inspired

I am inspired by Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit. These are the top women in business. There was panel with lots of high flyers - Andrea Jung (CEO Avon), Anne Moore (CEO Time Inc), and Ursula Burns (President, Xerox). Here are links to three video clips from the conference.

Mentors to Most Powerful Women

Clips also on that page: Mentoring the next women CEOs (5 min) & Breaking the CEO Glass Ceiling (apologies - i wanted to link to these clips but was shortcut-hyperlinked challenged on the Fortune site).

The next summit is in October, however with a price tag of close to $4K dollars for 3 days, I'm doubtful many of us will attend, but staying tuned to hear the quality sound bytes will be worthwhile.

Now sometimes the tricky thing about keeping a blog, is that as you're about to publish a post you come across another slew of interesting information. Here's the best link I've found so far with links to video and content from previous 'Most Powerful Women' events. I haven't had a chance to check it out, but it certainly looks like empowering content. May be I shouldn't be going on vacation tomorrow, there's so much to do, and so many lessons to learn from these amazing women. But... sound body and mind is also a key foundational block for any future leader!

Don't Worry Be Happy - But We Do

The MIT AgeLab has recently completed a large scale survey to investigate concerns about retirement. They have found large differences between men and women. The area where men are more worried than women is potential for being bored during retirement - there us women don't have many worries, but virtually on every other front we are more worried, and as the article says - probably with good reason.

The 3 primary areas where worries occur are: Inflation, Health, and Longevity. The researchers say it isn't unfounded worries given women tend to outlive their spouses, and a large number of women will end up living on significantly smaller incomes than men in retirement. Health, it suggests that women have to do a better job of taking care of themselves, much of their health energy is applied to looking after aging parents and their spouse. It's important to remember to take care of yourself. The final concern is about insuring they have enough assets to last them through their final days.

Increasing women's knowledge of investment funds, retirement funds, and working with financial planners is something that needs to happen. Yes, women do manage much of the money in the home and large financial decisions I haven't read of women's knowledge in long term planning happening. Potentially an area for growth.

Getting Above the Glass Ceiling Before It Forms

Blogher.com has just hosted it's conference. Sounds like it was a wonderful event. The one fact that I picked up from the NYT article was that among internet users 14% of men blog, and 11% of women, however when it comes to top bloggers it is rare to find women's names in the list.

Who sets the rules for which candidates are selected for top listings? We need more influence in these lists, but again its legacy of a old system to judge new contributions. I use google alerts to help me keep up with topics to post on this blog. I love receiving custom news snippets about things I care about, I can never tell if I'm not paying attention to enough main stream news/technology media, or whether I don't find it appealing because of bias in the content (not the reporting but the styles don't resonate with my needs). There is more data today about our buying purchase power, our income, and our capability to set up businesses. I would love to see as new avenues for communication become available or new topics get hot women are able to play stronger roles in the first rounds, so as to not leave us on the outside trying to get in after the fact. Any ideas how we can do this?