Transcript:
George Donnelly: Welcome to a discussion with women business owners and experts on women business on unique challenges and special characteristics of women-led businesses. Today's discussion is brought to you by Guardian Life Small Business Research Institute. Well, we're in this rich area of what can be considered a woman's centric mentality about running a business versus the rest. Let's talk about what kind of businesses you're hoping to build and why, and ultimately this is a question of how do you define the right kind of growth?
Andrea Cohen: We don't have aspirations to be a national company. We want to be regional. We want to stay right where we are, but we want to somehow share what we have learned with the entire industry to be able to affect change.
Beth Williams: To me, growth is building your business to meet the evolving needs of your customers. My vision is to really figure out a way to continue to grow, to diversify particularly my customer base either though acquisitions of a smaller similar business, looking to diversify into other product lines.
George Donnelly: What are the common mistakes women make as they're getting their business up and running?
Michelle Macaux: Women—in direct opposition to men—tend to go in alone, where as you'll see men kind of start companies at a younger age. They tend do to it with a group of other men. Women think they need to be older. They need to have the experience, but they also want to do it themselves.
Beth Williams: Women do it alone. I know sometimes I feel alone. I don't think women socialize as much as men do in business. I think that kind of is sort of what you meant. We don't network together; we don't brainstorm together. I mean, that's business growth today.
Dr. Patricia Green: There is a research piece there too about the networks who women connect with, and the fact of the matter is a huge part of women's networks still have to be around the family. There's just so much time you've got and all the time studies too show that while Beth's network may be connected with somebody she might collaborate with for her business might also be who is going to pick the kids up from school at the end of the day.
Andrea Cohen: I think we're sort of the first generation of women business owners who are sort of out there, more predominate. We can build relationships in business the same way we build relationships in our lives.
George Donnelly: What are the biggest obstacles women have to worry about when they get going in their business?
Michelle Macaux: I think lack of capital is absolutely one of the challenges that women face, in part because they don't think to sometimes go after those types of resources. The really interesting thing is, and kind of to go back to what we were just talking about, is again that question of collaboration. They are less likely to kind of call and make introductions or make those networking opportunities.
Kip Hollister: That's interesting, and I think you're right, but I think that men have a really easy way of just networking. I have to know you really well first. It's not at all about being competitive, but I need to genuinely know who you are, what you're about, before I build trust with you to say, you know, "Would you ever considering using our services, or how can I help you?"
Dr. Patricia Green: New and different ways that women are connecting: they report feeling more positively about their use of social media and finding different ways to work together and to network, more so than a lot of the guys.
George Donnelly: Maybe perhaps it ties into one's receptivity, willingness to share personal things.
Dr. Patricia Green: I think it might. It's just a nice blend.
Beth Williams: I ideally would prefer to work with a woman entrepreneur or someone where I'm going to help grow that business. When I work for suppliers, that's what I look for—minority and women suppliers—and I take pride in that
Kip Hollister: I would agree with you. I love doing business with other women and supporting other women in business. I want to help, especially with young emerging entrepreneurs. I want to coach them. I want to tell them what lesions I learned, where I failed, where I fell down, because I think that can really help build the economy to another level with more women in business.
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