It is with great honor that I accepted the role of 2018-2019 NAWBO Phoenix President. I’m excited to lead our chapter into a great year as we align with the NAWBO mission: “Strengthen the wealth-creating capacity of our members and promote economic development; create innovative and effective changes in the business culture; build strategic alliances, coalitions, and … [More]
Creating a Winning Team
“Winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all the time thing. You don’t win once in a while... you don’t do things right once in a while... you do them right all the time. Winning is habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.” —Vince Lombardi America loses $360 billion annually due to an unmotivated work group. The same study shows that engaged employees are 43 percent more … [More]
What to Do When a Family Crisis Affects Your Business
As business owners, we tend to live and breathe our business. However, sometimes crises hit in other areas of our lives. How we manage our energy and attention in these times can make or break our business. Recently, my father, who lives in Europe, was unexpectedly diagnosed with a terminal illness. This meant talking to family and caregivers during my most productive … [More]
Do Your Employees Have Your Back? Create a Culture of Engagement.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to take a month-long vacation from your business and know that your employees were taking care of everything the way you would? Imagine relaxing on a beach or sightseeing through Europe and not checking your text, emails or phone messages because your employees have your back! According to Gallup’s 2017 State of the American Workplace report, only 30 … [More]
Women Business Owners Benefit from NAWBO Mentoring Program
Each year, the Phoenix Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners has provided one of the Valley’s only business mentoring programs that is designed and facilitated exclusively for women business owners. Hundreds of women have benefitted as mentors or mentees. Mentees develop a business plan, learn from experts in the community and form masterminding … [More]
How to Make Air Travel Less of a Pain
Air travel can be tough. Between schlepping bags, the mental duress of contending with possible schedule changes and the actual time stuck in a seat, flying can definitely be a pain. If your life involves cross-country or international travel, you are already keenly aware that 5 to 15 hours in a cramped seat can definitely cause some discomfort. A recent flight to and from … [More]
NAWBO Members Are Driving the Economic Growth of Phoenix
Three members of the Phoenix chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners are part of the elite group of the top Women-Owned Businesses as named by the Phoenix Business Journal. Each Phoenix business owner learned early in her career that women do business differently from their male counterparts. Rosaria Cain, Robin Orchard and Ginger Clayton recently shared … [More]
Top Ten Tips for Creating Your Business Plan
Why should you have a business plan? A business plan provides clear objectives for well-planned business goals and strategies to be met to ensure financial success. It also provides reassurance to lenders and investors that requested funds are being used appropriately to meet these goals. Below are ten tips to guide you through the process of developing your business … [More]
Serving as President of NAWBO Phoenix is an Extraordinary Experience!
I’m privileged to be on this board with women who are contributing their time and talents for the greater good of the organization. Their dedication to NAWBO (National Association of Women Business Owners) Phoenix and to the success of our programs is unbelievable. During this year, our pillars are to Collaborate, Communicate and Connect with each other for the purpose of … [More]
Don’t Let Your Marketing Die of Natural Causes
Your Website Remember when you launched your website? You thought you were done, didn’t you? Websites are fluid and constantly changing. You need to keep it as current as the jeans you wear or the phone you carry. Websites need to be redone every two years to stay current. As many as 60 percent of all websites fall into this category of being out of date. There are several … [More]
Personal Brand and Style
Styling is an optical illusion. It’s all about perception. Did you know when you enter a room, people’s eyes will go from the top of your head to the tip of your toe in three seconds? Styling is about looking your best at any given moment. It’s all about keeping the attention on your face and what you are saying or selling. Color lets you reshape your silhouette using trompe … [More]
Seven Traits of Highly Successful Women to Embrace Now
1. Confidence — Here’s the secret to confidence: It doesn’t matter how you feel on the inside, it’s what you project on the outside that people see. I have often been told by people that they admire my confidence. I smile graciously and thank them, knowing on the inside I was the same as everyone else. I was nervous, I had my own doubts and fears. But I took practical steps to … [More]
Photos Can Enhance Your Business
We’ve all heard the saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” A photograph can draw a viewer in and compel her to learn more or it can turn someone away with one glance. This is especially true when it comes to marketing your own business. Are the pictures on your website piquing the interest of your viewers? Do your brochures pop? Or do you need a bit of a … [More]
Standout in Your Field and SWOT the Competition
Yes, you read right, “SWOT” the competition, not “swat” the competition. You don’t want to physically hurt them. You just want to have an advantage over them; who wouldn’t want an advantage? Think about a time when you played a game that required forethought or strategy. Was it easier to play against someone you didn’t know or someone you knew well? I would think the latter. … [More]
Happy Birthday HR5050!
Imagine if you were a business owner, and you were required to get a co-signer for a loan. No big deal, right? It happens all the time! However, in the not-so-distant past, women business owners were subjected to a set of standards to obtain credit different from their equivalent male counterparts. In fact, men were so highly valued, and women so greatly de-valued, that women … [More]
November 2017 Message from Julie S. Cook
Serving as the president and the chief cheerleader of NAWBO Phoenix for the 2017/18 year is a privilege of a lifetime. I’m meeting and connecting with so many amazing women who have had and are making a huge influence in my life. Because of how my life has been affected in such a positive way, I encourage businesswomen — and men, of course — to come and see what NAWBO is … [More]
Is your Company at Risk?
A small business owner I know recently discovered that one of his employees embezzled about $300,000 from his company over approximately eight years. The employee was responsible for some accounting functions that included payroll. Every payroll, he would create the information needed to be sent to their PEO, get it approved by the owner, and then submit a significantly … [More]
Local Group Launches App for Finding Woman-Owned Businesses
Looking for a plumber, printer or other products or services? Why not use a WOWOB (woman-owned, woman-operated business)? They’re different. WOWOBs have a big social impact as well as an economic impact. The local founders of the WOWOB movement recently launched a free app to make it easy for anyone to locate a WOWOB to meet his or her needs. “Go to the App store or Google … [More]
