NAWBO-Columbus Member Blog

Today was spent at the Reagan International Trade Center.  A HUGE building here in DC.

Devora Zack, Networking for People who Hate Networking — great BINGO intro game for groups — very interactive.

Karen Mills, Administrator, US SBA spoke on the SBA’s initiatives to make money available for small businesses and especially women owned businesses — to help reinvigorate the economy.  Did you know that the SBA has online small business contracting course especially for women?  www.sba.gov — then look up small business classroom — and then find the class for women.  Proposed rule changes will enlarge the categories of procurement that have 5% women goals from 5 to 83.

Virginia Littlejohn honored with Legacy Award — a past  National President of NAWBO and early advocate for women in business in DC reminded us that it was 1986 when women businesses were beginning to be “recognized” as not just a hobby — and not until 1988 till women could get their own loan.

Dr. Terry Neese honored for her work with NAWBO in the early years and as founder of WIPP.

Claire Shipman (ABC news) and Katty Kay (BBC) coauthored Womenomics:  Write your own rules for success.  Book sounds great — has numbers and studies to show that:  1.  Boards that have at least 3 women on them — the companies outperform other companies without women on their boards 2. Changes in the workplace that allow for balance improve productivity by 40%  3.  Catalyst and Goldman Sachs and Guardian Life studies back up power of women in the workplace and women business owners.

Favorite quote(s) of the day:

1. If you run a business and you are not involved with politics — then politics will run your business
2. There is a special place in hell reserved for women who don’t help other women — Madeline Albright

I attended the NAWBO-Columbus Roundtable Launch Meeting this morning, and, can I just say WOW!

I learned so much this morning about some of our members, and I’m blown away with these phenomenal, dynamic women!

• We have members who have…
• Run in 26 marathons and a triathlon
• Played basketball for The Ohio State University
• Traveled the world 28 days out of the month for five years with a prior employer
• Is starting their third business
• Lived in Paris and Berlin
• Adopted children from around the world

And this is just a small sampling of what came out of a “things you might not know about me” activities!

Our members are AMAZING!

Want to get to know more about our members?  Attend our next monthly meeting on June 3rd or the Visionary Awards event on July 15th!

The Ohio Women’s Business Growth Initiative is a collaboration of several womens business organizations.

Each year, three of the organizations, (NAWBO Columbus, WELD, and eWomen Network) designate two of their own events to “share” with the members of the other organizations and invite them to participate at the same prices as their own members.

So, when you see an OWBGI event sponsored by WELD or eWomen, as a NAWBO member, you are entitled to attend at their member price.  This is a great way to experience some extended pricing and share the connections of NAWBO!

If you have more questions about OWBGI, please contact NAWBO Columbus Programming Chair Jennifer Kuntz.

The following laides attended the Huddle after the May meetings.  I encourage you to take the time to reach out, introduce yourself and say….”tell me about your business.”

Courtney Carlson
Owner, Wingate Stables, LLC

Theresa Bush
Theresa Bush Ins. Agency, Inc., tate Farm

I attended my first NAWBO meeting last spring and was greeted so warmly and made to feel so welcome; I set a personal goal to introduce myself to every new face at each meeting. I’m an over achiever by nature. I always run out of networking time before I run out of people I want to meet.  I enjoy catching up with other NAWBO members, as well as introducing myself to new faces, learning about their business.  I have yet to make it through the entire room and connect with everyone.

Could it be I set my goal to high?  Probably.

I really enjoy meeting and getting to know new NAWBO faces, learn about their businesses, their challenges, commonalities, as well as finding ways to support them either directly or indirectly to help their business thrive.  It all starts with “Hi, I’m Karen.  Tell me about your business.”

Could it be I enjoy good conversation?  Sure.

Could it be I believe you get what your give?  Definitely!

In the past year, these introductions have helped me grow my business, develop strong business relationships and acted as a catalyst for some wonderful friendships.

With the growth of the Columbus Chapter, and the goal of doubling the chapter this year, I will never be able to reach my goal. Not at the monthly meeting.  It’s great news for the Columbus NAWBO chapter -not so good for an over achiever like me.   But there is hope!

Have you heard about the Huddle?

The Huddle was implemented late last year as a way to welcome women business owners attending their first NAWBO meeting, learn about their business, and provide information about the many benefits  NAWBO membership.  The huddle has proven to be an important aspect in relationship building, and generating new members to the Columbus chapter.

Each month the names of those who attend the Huddle will be posted on our blog and website to welcome newcomers and another way for NAWBO members to network and connect .

Hey, I might just reach my goal!

I encourage you will take the time to reach out, introduce yourself and say….”tell me about your business.”

Caroline Ma
M n R Design Studio, LLC
New Member!

Laura Sammons
A Different Direction
New Member!

Kathie Baier
Western & Southern Life
New Member!

Linda Wisler Luft
Fireball Coaching.com

Julie McAleb
Encore Meeting & Events

As all Columbus NAWBO  members may know by now, we reached a milestone in 2009 by gaining over 140 members, something new to our chapter.  What an exciting opportunity!  It is important that all of the members gain something through their membership.

With that said, I need to call upon all members for help in taking  on part of Membership Service Committee’s tasks.  The specific areas that I have in mind are as follows:

Member to Member Event Planner – Responsibilities include planning and executing events outside of the monthly meetings.  This would entail setting up locations and coordinating website postings.  Currently, we plan to hold two to three events like this a year.

Member Retention Coordinator – Responsibilities include documenting and making renewal reminder phone calls to existing members, as well as, requesting feedback to on their NAWBO experience.  This position would be an ongoing maintenance role.

If you have been looking for ways to get involved with NAWBO and feel like one of these two opportunities would be a good fit, please contact me at liz@wedecoratecolumbus.com or call (614)657-0823.   I look forward to hearing from you and appreciate the consideration!

Liz CaJacobs is an owner of the CaJacob Design Group, LLC and Director of Member Services for NAWBO Columbus.  For more information, contact Liz via email or call her mobile at (614) 657-0823.

I was a shy kid. Really. I remember, early in my junior high school years, sitting on my bed sobbing my eyes out because junior high was so rough, I didn’t know anyone, and quite possibly just wouldn’t be able to live as a result. Drama aside, my mother proved to be a wise woman. Her advice was pretty simple; she told me I could, “sit on the sidelines or get in the game and play,” and then followed up with, “you are what you want to be.”

Mom-isms and clichés aside, those few words had a significant impact on me. I interpreted her wisdom to mean that I would have to go out and forge my way because the world and all of its opportunities were not going to miraculously appear at my doorstep!

I first joined NAWBO in late 2005. I attended lunch meetings and got to know just a few members. When my first year of membership expired, I did not renew. I decided to explore membership in other organizations, thinking they were better for building my business. By the way, I equated building my business with making overnight sales.

This year, one of the NAWBO board members asked me to help with NAWBO’s membership drive. I wasn’t even a member, but she knew how to reel me in. I agreed, ended up rejoining NAWBO myself, and haven’t looked back. Remembering my mom’s wise advice, I decided to get into the game this time. The reality is, the membership is only as good as I make it. I am on the board of another organization, and the same holds true. I’m getting out of both of these organizations exactly what I put into them. Here are a few tips I’ve learned along the way to help me define the value of NAWBO, or membership in any organization, on MY terms.

Get into the game and play, as mom says. When I was first a member of NAWBO, I attended meetings. That’s it. In return, I learned some interesting things from the speakers. That’s it. This time around, I became involved in a short-term task force before I even rejoined the organization. I got to really learn about my fellow task force members and they got to learn about me. Ingenious.

Start small. Actually, this continues the previous point. Jumping in as a full-blown committee member just simply may not be what you can do. Take on a short-term or one-time only project. It’s a great way to get to know other people without over-committing yourself.

Have a goal. Don’t just go to lunch, sit at a table and leave after the program. Make a plan to talk to everyone at your table and find out what they do. Try not to focus on yourself and what you need, for once. It’s liberating. When you understand the diversity of the membership, you start to see how many amazing women (and men) you really ought to know. This helps your business, too.

Make it a policy to expand and further explore at least one of those new relationships you’ve just initiated by inviting someone new to coffee each mont. I have some amazing friends in this organization and some people I trust and am confident to recommend to others. Not surprisingly, this has resulted in reciprocity.

Just ask. Learn more about the benefits of membership. If you’re not sure everything that NAWBO offers, then ask questions. You might be pleasantly surprised. Let me give you an example. I recently decided to open a new checking account. Key Bank is a NAWBO corporate sponsor. At the time, Key was offering a GPS for all new accounts, with the premium account offering a premium version of the GPS. I was only in the position to open a basic checking account, but by asking and learning that NAWBO members could take advantage of the premium account, I was able to get “bumped” to a different level. Thanks, NAWBO! My challenged sense of direction appreciates you.

Take advantage of the various programs, new members offers, and benefits such as the Roundtables. I have extrapolated and interpreted what I’ve learned from these “freebies” or low-cost opportunities back into my business and have seen focused, solid growth. Yea, me!

At the end of the day, what’s important is that the benefits of any membership, regardless of the organization, are exactly proportionate to what I invest. Are you taking charge of your membership and getting out of it all that you can?

Sharon DeLay, MBA, SPHR, CPCC is the president and owner of BoldlyGO Career and Human Resource Management and a member of the NAWBO Columbus Communications Committee. To learn more, please visit http://www.boldlygocoaching.com or call Sharon at 614-473-0122.