Here are a few comments that were left on my blog yesterday. There are nearly 200 of them, so I've just included about half a dozen (of the nearly 2 dozen that other readers asked me to remove.)
Holy vitriol Batman. What have I done?
I'm fascinated by this. Really. I don't even really know where to start in processing the fury - and threats - that i have wrought. I should be shot and raped for not liking Batman? Since I disagree with them, I need to change my pad? Because I don't like Batman I have proven that women are too stupid for film and business.
What was most interesting to me, however, was how it felt to be judged so virulently because of ONE thing that I did - in this case, dislike Batman. How it felt to actually feel in danger - jeesh, these people want me raped and shot just for speaking my mind, being myself. OMG. While i would never compare this one blog post to the generations-deeper segregationist vitriol that threatens people of different religion, skin color and sexual orientation, it was an eye-opener for me. A privileged white woman who has never experienced such violent hatred.
But the larger issue for me is the violent hatred that is clearly just under the surface. Who are these anonymous posters? Men, I'm fairly sure. Are they working at the desk next to you? Are they dating your sister your best friend, your mother, your daughter - you?
Not one comment questioned the business ideas presented. They all, instead, referred to my menstrual cycle and clearly retarded intellect. Of nearly 200 comments, maybe 3 didn't mention my gender.
What does this say? Really, what do you think it says about our society, our men, our ability to discuss ideas, the hope we have to work together. For chrissake, all I did was say I didn't like a movie!
Unsure of how to process all of this, I did a quick Google search for stories about other bloggers who have received similar responses on their blogs. Here's a shocker, the first one I found was a woman, who pissed off a bunch of male tech bloggers.
Kathy Sierra, a prominent technology blogger, is considering never
posting on her blog again because of the severity of threats she’s
received online.Sierra has been the target of anonymous death threats for the past several weeks, according to the last post on her blog,
Creating Passionate Users. The blog is for people “passionate about the
brain and metacognition, most especially — how the brain works and how
to exploit it for better learning and memory.”In her latest post,
dated Monday, Sierra included graphic written and photographic threats
she has endured, as well as her feelings about the threats. “For the
last four weeks, I’ve been getting death threat comments on this blog,”
she writes. “But that’s not what pushed me over the edge. What finally
did it was some disturbing threats of violence and sex posted on two
other blogs … blogs authored and/or owned by a group that includes
prominent bloggers.”
So I started wondering if maybe we women just aren't supposed to be talking about boy stuff, you know, stuff like business, technology and Batman?
What do you think? Is there a freaky vein that I've tapped in to? A larger lesson to be learned? A way to get out of this kind of dialog and into something more constructive?
]]>
So many - SO MANY! - people came up to us afterwards to ask how we
could keep the momentum going, find each other's wisdom and passion on
a regular basis, not just at BlogHer. So here it is, The Positive
Posting cause on Just Cause It.
We will cause positive things. It's that simple.
Write about a stranger who made your day, a political movement
that's working, a new diet that is helping you regain your health,
anything that you think others can learn and grow from.
But let's use this energy to create real change. Talk about real
stuff, link to other bloggers and posts, join other causes, create your
own causes. The whole premise of our panel was to inspire people to use
their own energy to create change - which is also the premise of JUST
CAUSE IT. So, let's see what we can do together.
I'd like to find some really fun innovative way to support and promote each other's causes. We don't have big budgets or corporate sponsors, but maybe we can sponsor each other. Maybe a writer can sponsor a prize to write the holiday letter for someone who the community chooses as a great tutoring hero. Or a photographer can send a photo to a blogger selected as having done something great.
Join us, and remember to tag your posts to Positive Posting. I don't know where this will go, but I would love to make clear that if you have a cause, there is a community of people who do want to hear about it, and by working together, we can do it. Now that's positive.
Thanks BlogHer for bringing the 5 of us together, we'd like to keep it going, for sure. On BlogHer and in our home towns.....
]]>Time for a little fluff, because my ACHING legs will not allow me to do anything of substance. I am trying my very hardest to be one of those eco commuting biking chicks. For lots of reasons. I'm just fed up with the whole gas thing. Traffic in Seattle makes me homicidal. Parking makes me omnicidal (want to kill everything, not just people.) And, frankly, I'm vain as can be and want the hot bod that all that biking will give me. So, here's some insight into being a successful cycling executive - specifically a CHICK.
First of all, there's the wardrobe issue. You pretty much either have to wear it or throw it in your bag to slip into it on the street. So, if you want to look cute (did I mention that I'm vain?) this is going to require some strategy. My ideas so far:
1. The very simple slip on t-shirt style dress. Roll it up carefully and throw it in your bag. It will then slide right over some little cycling shorts and a tank top.
2. Nice yoga pants. Today's outfit involved nice yoga pants. This particular pair is a stretchy, matte finish, well tailored pair from LuLu Lemon. Just roll the cuff so they don't get caught in the chain and Voila! Nice black pants when you get where you're going. Pair with a nice knit top and you're good to go.
3. Shoes. Simple classic black sandals. They take up no space in my bag, and turned both the dress and the yoga pants into a corporate casual look.
Now, hair and makeup.
1. You thought hat hair was bad? Let me introduce you to helmet hair. It's sweaty. It is not good. Which is why god (with a lowercase g) invented head bands. Black headband in the bag at all times. Unless your hair is long enough for a pony tail..... But really, finished looking hair is something that gets noticed.
2. If you're a makeup wearer, this is the time to go seriously light on it. Sweat and soot will do a number on your face. I've seen it. Tread lightly, BUT, embrace the long-wearing stuff. Revlon ColorStay lipstick is my new favorite thing.
3. Deodorant. Enough said.
Gear. Now this was a rude awakening. My 15" MacBook Pro, previously the love of my life (it breathes when it sleeps!) is now the bane of my existence. Damn thing weighs a ton. I have embraced the power of the pen and paper. The bonus is that when I re-type my notes and to-dos into my computer when I get home, I get to rethink through everything and that's good. That said, if the kind people at Mac would like to send me one of those itty bitty new laptops, just let me know, I'll give you worlds of good press! (Eco friendly Computers Enable Bicycle Commuting!)
Locks. Having previously worshiped the ubiquitous Kryptonite lock, I've converted to a hardcore cable lock. It weighs half as much, and allows you freedom to wrap yourself around anything you need to - parking meter, light pole, whatever - if there's not a proper bike rack.
Worried about cars? Yah, me too. But ya know what, they're more scared of you than you are of them. Turns out that there's plenty of room on the roads, so I don't know what to say about those drivers that are scared to pass cyclists, it's weird. Really, there's plenty of room.
What you should worry about are people opening car doors on to you. So, PEOPLE, please look before opening your car door. I almost got slammed half a dozen times in the last 2 days.
As for the rules of the road - PLEASE OBEY THEM. Cyclists that are rude and don't play by the rules are ruining it for everyone.
Now you have no excuses. Come on - gas prices are too high, traffic is killing our planet and our moods, and we're all getting a tad heavier than we really want to be. Hop on a bike to get to work.
So, what are your secrets to rocking the bike and making it work?
]]>Ironically - or not - BlogHer is the company that I speak about the most when I speak to investors.
]]>Ironically - or not - BlogHer is the company that I speak about the most when I speak to investors. Founded by 3 women,
to support and aggregate the considerable contribution of women to our culture, BlogHer is, for me, the Mecca of success manifested. If you don't know who they are, you should. It is a company built on brains, balls, vision, dedication, passion, integrity, grit and they really created a new market that wound up aggregating the most sought after demographic out there into one big entity. They blow me away. Although they don't know it, they have been role models for me.
Anyway, enough fawning. I just left a break out session for women entrepreneurs. (No, that's not the panel I was speaking on, maybe next year.) And I would be remiss if I didn't share with you some of the collective wisdom of the women in the room. The vast majority of them are running their own businesses, and - as often happens when there are a bunch of women in the room - it really turned into a great group discussion.
1. THIS TAKES BALLS. Though there was of course some discussion that perhaps it takes ovaries. But I'm partial to the balls thing. Whether you're a dude or a chick, being an entrepreneur is hard. REALLY F'ING HARD. You have to be able to take punches, again and again. There were countless tales from people who - having now made successful exits - told of days on end crying to their parents on the phone, not showering, being sure it was all about to fall apart. But they kept going. It's like running a marathon, right. All you have to do is just not stop. If you don't have what it takes to just not stop, no matter what's being thrown at you, then go get a job. Seriously.
The rest of the BlogHer Business Wisdom is on StartHerUp....
]]>He called at 3:30 in the morning. I didn’t hear the phone ring. (I
don’t regret that, even if I had heard it ring, I wouldn’t have done
anything. I saw it as his mess he made, his mess to clean up.)
No one was hurt. Not physically anyway.
But we were both devastated. 5 weeks later, we still are.
]]>He called at 3:30 in the morning. I didn’t hear the phone ring. (I
don’t regret that, even if I had heard it ring, I wouldn’t have done
anything. I saw it as his mess he made, his mess to clean up.)
No one was hurt. Not physically anyway.
But we were both devastated. 5 weeks later, we still are.
Especially since I believed that he had stopped drinking years ago.
And that he had stopped drinking because he was afraid he might develop
a problem like the rest of his family. I was proud of him. And he knew
that.
Which made this all the worse for me. And even worse for him. On top
of everything else he was fighting - depression that he was medicating
with alcohol, all of which he was keeping secret - he now had to deal
with shame and guilt. From where I sit, that’s a lot to deal with.
I have tried, for 5 weeks now, to let this be HIS problem. I don’t
want to steal his thunder by making it my problem. I don’t want to
design his recovery for him, or contain it with my own expectations.
But, 5 weeks later, I have finally realized that this is a problem for
me too. And my recovery is as scary and important as his. And I have to
claim that.
Because it is really hard for me too. I’m not the one with the
drinking problem, but his drinking problem - everything that went into
it and came from it - is having a massive impact on my life. And it has
for years, even though I didn’t know what it was.
I think it’s like termites. they’re in there, eating things away,
destroying fiber and foundation silently and no one knows they’re there
until there are holes in the wall, until the house is weak, could fall
in the wind. And there you stand, wondering what to do? Exterminate?
Burn the thing down? Pack your bags and move away, pretending it never
happened? How can something so destructive do so much dastardly
destroying without you knowing it? Stupid. That’s the only answer, you
must be stupid.
That’s what this feels like.
5 weeks after my husband’s DUI and ensuing confession of years of
closet drinking and dark depression, I’m standing here staring at the
holes in the wall. Treading carefully on a foundation that is almost
surely about to give way beneath my feet. I want to save the house, all
of it, but I know I can’t. It’s time to move on. To where, I don’t know.
Ironic, isn’t that part of the AA serenity prayer is “accept the things i cannot change…..”
Because it does scare me. A lot. But I know that I want it, need it,
deserve it, and will have it. He deserves it too. And that it is the
best thing for everyone.
It doesn’t matter how I got here, how long it was eroding without being caught. The question is “what will we do now?”
I have the courage to change things that I can change. I have the
strength to accept the things I cannot change. And I know the
difference.
I can change the way I live my life. I cannot change the way others live theirs.
I can see very clearly the wreckage left here. I can even see the
path to it and the path from it. None of which would be possible if it
hadn’t fallen apart so completely.
I can even be grateful for the seemingly dire situation that presented me with this clarity.
I am so blessed. I love. I am loved. I am strong and surrounded by wonder.
I am tired. But that’s okay. I can rest when I need to.
Tomorrow, I think I will go to my first Al-Anon meeting. The thing
that I want right now is to know that other people have been here, felt
this. I can get my brain around it all, that’s not a problem. It’s my
heart that’s breaking.
Is there anyone else out there? Surely I'm not alone..... That's all I want, just to know that I'm not alone...
My husband and I are both blogging about it daily at Off The Rocks.
]]>Yes, a massage and new-do would indeed be a fabulous mother's day!
]]>Yes, a massage and new-do would indeed be a fabulous mother's day!
But, I wouldn't trade an hour or so of nit-picking for anything. For more than an hour, she and I sat together, in relative stillness and talked. Her (incredibly thick and golden) hair spilled over my lap and my fingers stroked her scalp with precision and love. I can't remember the last time she had her head in my lap for that long... (Yes I can, actually, and there were lice involved then, too.) One section at a time, we douse her hair with baby oil, killing lice in their tracks, and loosening up the nit sacks so that they come out with the comb.
I am reminded how lucky I am to have this child, this amazing girl who loves and trusts me to guide her through life until she is on her "own." This firebrand of creativity and power who is willingly limp in my lap to be loved and cared for. I am her mother, after all.
With a head full of oil, we head to the bathroom to "dry" her hair with the hottest possible setting on the hair dryer - they can't take the heat, die quickly. "We're frying them, mom." "Yup." "In all that oil, deep fried lice. Yum!"
I am reminded how much I love her sense of humor. She's smart and witty - and has a truly sardonic sense of humor. She loves Monty Python as much as I do.
Next step, the bathtub, to try and wash out the oil - that'll take a few tries. Her body is still all little girl. Thank goodness. But at the same time, it is so much like mine - she has my broad shoulders, my butt exactly, my toes, my fingers.... (and the freckles I always wanted but do not have.) Her narrative continues and I tune in and out, I'm not sure exactly what she was saying the whole time she was talking (she is always talking) but I do know that her aimless chatter anchors me in a way that I can't explain.
"Mom, ya know, what could be a better mother's day than this? A nice head massage, a bath, someone washing your hair....."
I take that as gratitude. She doesn't realize the irony that I am the one "working" and not "receiving." Nor does she realize that her unspoken gratitude is the thing we most want and need. At least I do. I don't need cards or gifts or fancy dinners, I just need the people I love and care for to be glad that I love and care for them.
Got that in spades today.
Curled up in bed with Myles, all three of us and an alternating collection of cats, and watched Groundhog Day. (A perfect movie. Seen it a thousand times and still love it.)
"I don't get it mom, does he just have to keep trying until he gets it right?" "I think so." The movie rolls on, and Bill Murray is finally released from the endless loop of February 2nd. He wakes up at the end of the movie on February 3rd. "So, all he had to do was stop being so crabby, learn how to be nice and do stuff, and then he can move on? Just keep trying 'till you get it right?"
Yes, Celia, that's it.
Keep going. Keep learning. Keep loving. That's how we go forward. On to the next day.
Though I'm not sure I want to leave this one behind. I cannot imagine a better mother's day.
Fried Lice and all.
]]>I really wish that I could include all of them in this post – it's
the mom in me maybe, I just want to make sure that everyone is
included. But, to do that would make this a book, not a blog post. (And
yes, I've already contacted my agent and am writing a proposal….)
There is one way that I can include absolutely everyone, because
there is one thing that almost 100% of the respondents said. When
asked, "How does being a mom help you at work?" pretty much every
Mompreneur said, "it's taught me to multi task and be patient with
people who are being unreasonable."
Amen.
And now, some motherly advice:
What's the best advice your mom ever gave you that you now use in your professional life?
Linda Naerheim: No matter what is going on in your life, if you keep looking toward the future, you can accomplish anything.
Danielle Batchelor: You catch more flies with honey
Kimberly Oster Holstein: Be a good person. Have integrity. Be gracious and take the high road.
Mary Christensen: No mother, ever, after her children left home, wished they had spent less time with them when they were growing up.
Nina Vultaggio: Act like the person in the position you want, not like the person in the
position you have.
Morgan McKean:
First, do what you love, because there are days that you probably won't
want to do it, so at least on those occasions, you'll be able to
tolerate it. Next, know your worth, do not let others determine it for
you, because people will never place a value on your talent or skills,
higher than the one you place on them yourself.
Andrea Fitting: It pays to be different.
Name a situation at work that you think you handled like a mother – good or bad.
Gabrielle DeSantis-Cummings:
I think every day in every situation the mother part of me is what
makes me be able to do what I do. I have to rise to every occasion, to
every challenge, and just like in being a successful mother, when some
one or something needs you, you do not get to "quit" or take your "15
minute break", no matter how tired, you just do whatever it is that
needs to be done.
Angela Ichwan: Managing
employees is parallel to raising children. You want them to grow, learn
and always do well, but you also want to allow them to make mistakes,
so they can learn from their mistakes. All you can do is provide them
with the tools, encouragement and motivation to do their best.
Laurie J. Storey-Manseau:
I often mentor my staffers on keeping their personal lives ahead of
their professional lives. That is, I'm often telling them to set their
priorities around their families, not their work. You can always get a
job, but if you screw up your kids or your marriage, that's damage that
lasts forever...and ever.
How does being a mom help you at work?
Linda Naerheim: It gives me patience with rude or unprofessional people that I didn't have before.
Kimberly Oster Holstein: Being a mom is incredible training for the office and building a team.
Marianne Cursetjee: Time
management!!! The never ending barrage of things to do (piano lessons,
soccer, school, Meals On Wheels driving) has really made it imperative
that I manage my time and decide which items to take care of and which
items are going to fall off my plate.
Beth Feldman: You don't take everything so seriously. If no one is crying or bleeding, it can't be that bad.
Tammy Apana: Being a
working mom has enabled me to become more patient. Motherhood has
taught me that at any given moment, your plans can change.
How does working help you as a mom?
Gabrielle DeSantis-Cummings: I get to show my kids that by working hard and working smart you can build any dream you want to dream.
Julie Languille: It
lets me see parenting as problem solving and helping my children build
their competence and confidence rather than doing things for them.
Sometimes they need to struggle to grow and that is an important part
of the process of growing up.
And special attention to this lovely chart by Joyce Bone that makes very clear the obvious parallels between motherhood and running a business
Getting kids to school on time = Meeting deadlines
Breaking up sibling fights = Managing employees
Setting up playdates = Working with outside companies
Teaching Household Chores = Delegating
Paying allowances for chores = Accounts payable
As for me, the gifts from my own mother and daughter are too many to
count. They all center around knowing that if you keep trying,
eventually it works. (And the lovely metaphor of that bad "mommy
moment" when I put her at the top of a ski hill, told her I'd meet her
at the bottom and sped up on my way down so as not to hear her yelling
at me. But she's a great skier now.) And that I don't ever want to miss
a ballet recital, no matter what.
But more than that, being a mother gives me a direct connection to
the future. That everything I do creates the world my daughter will
live in. Whether it's creating a company that serves the greater good,
or raising a child to grow into an adult who understands the power and
potential in life – it gives me perspective on what matters. And that
makes me want to try even harder.
(Cross posted from www.StartHerUp.com)
]]>Wanna see how far we've come when it comes to women in the workplace? My friend Kate
just forwarded around a clipping from a 2007 issue of Savvy & Sage
Magazine (which doesn't have a working website with articles, or I
would link to it) in which they reprinted a 1943 Article on how to hire
women that ran in Transportation Magazine.
For your reading pleasure, with no commentary from me because there's really nothing to add. Priceless.
]]>Wanna see how far we've come when it comes to women in the workplace? My friend Kate
just forwarded around a clipping from a 2007 issue of Savvy & Sage
Magazine (which doesn't have a working website with articles, or I
would link to it) in which they reprinted a 1943 Article on how to hire
women that ran in Transportation Magazine.
For your reading pleasure, with no commentary from me because there's really nothing to add. Priceless.
1. Pick young married women. They usually have more of a sense of
responsibility than their unmarried sisters, they're less likely to be
flirtatious, they need the work or they wouldn't be doing it, they
still have the pep and interest to work hard and deal with the public
efficiently.
2. When you have to use older women, try to get ones who have worked
outside the home at some point in their lives. Older women who have
never contacted the public have a hard time adapting themselves, and
are inclined to be cantankerous and fussy. It's always well to impress
upon older women the importance of friendliness and courtesy.
3. General experience indicates that "husky" girls – those who are
just a little on the heavy side – are more even tempered and efficient
than their underweight sisters.
4. Retain a physician to give each woman you hire a special
examination – one covering female conditions. This step not only
protects the property against the possibility of a lawsuit, but reveals
whether the employee-to-be has any female weaknesses which would make
her mentally or physically unfit for the job.
5. Stress at the outset the importance of time, that a minute or two
lost here or there make serious inroads on schedules. Until this point
is gotten across, service is likely to be slowed up.
6. Give the female employee a definite day-long schedule of duties
so that they'll keep busy without bothering the management for
instructions every few minutes. Numerous properties say that women make
excellent workers when they have their jobs cut out for them, but that
they lack the initiative in finding work themselves.
7. Whenever possible, let the inside employee change from one job to
another at some time during the day. Women are inclined to be less
nervous and happier with change.
8. Give every girl an adequate number of rest periods during the
day. You have to make some allowances for feminine psychology. A girl
has more confidence and is more efficient if she can keep her hair
tidied, apply fresh lipstick and was her hands several times a day.
9. Be tactful when issuing instructions or in making criticisms.
Women are often sensitive; they can't shrug off harsh words the way men
do. Never ridicule a woman – it breaks her spirit and cuts off her
efficiency.
10. Be reasonably considerate about using strong language around
women. Even though a girl's husband or father may swear vociferously,
she'll grow to dislike a place of business where she hears too much of
this.
11. Get enough size variety in operator's uniforms so that each girl
can have a proper fit. This point can't be stressed too much in keeping
women happy.
That said, the statistics about women in business are pretty incredible. According to the Center for Women's Business Research, there are 10.4 million running successful businesses in the US. Of those 10.4 million, 85% of them are run out of the home.
Although the Today Show piece was really aimed at helping women turn hobbies into careers - things like crafting and cooking - the advice given to would-be momrepeneurs is really solid advice to ANYONE - male or female, hobbyist or researcher - thinking about starting a business.
Once you know what your idea is, whether it is a product or a service, ask yourself some very basic questions, as they will serve as the basis of your business plan:
1. Is it a product that YOU need, want and would use. If so, that serves as the starting point for defining your market.
2. Who else is doing it? While it's possible that nobody is doing it, do a thorough search to make sure. And even if this product doesn't currently exist, identify the manufacturers who make products of similar style and that serve a similar market. Those manufacturers may be your exit strategy, know who they are.
3. What goes in to actually MAKING this thing? Is this something you can make yourself, train a handful of others to make. OR, do you need to find someone who can design and produce a prototype and later find a factory that can make it? It's fine either way, but you have to know, as this will influence your startup costs.
4. Create a timeline and budget to make sure things keep moving forward.
Now, with timeline and budget in hand, it's time to figure out how you're going to pay for it. If you have a simple product that you can develop and take to market on your own, this may be less of an issue. But, in many cases, you will need more money than you have in order to really launch.
The biggest bunch of collective wisdom here is that you need to know the difference between and investor and a lender.
1. An investor (whether it's friend, family or institutional) puts money into the company in exchange for ownership. Pick them carefully, have lawyers draw up REAL terms so that you don't find yourself in the wishy-washy-he-said-she-said-hell that is money passed between friends and family. You will need to do some basic financial projections in order to know the value of the idea and product and everything you have done and weigh it against the value of the cash dollars being invested in. There are lawyers who specialize in this, find one, use them! You do not pay back an investor, but they do own part of your company.
2. A lender - whether it's a bank, friend, family - is someone who is LOANING you money and you will pay them back every penny, plus interest, that they loan to you. There is no harm whatsoever in doing this, but you need to be aware of the terms. If you are using your credit card as a lender, for instance, you'll start paying that back every month starting immediately. Friends and family may have different terms and you can start paying them back when you have X revenue. Make sure that you can afford both the terms and the timeline of any loan!
Now, the heart and soul of starting any business is that you have to LOVE it. Really, it's hard, that love and passion will keep you going when reality is beating you down.
Beyond personal passion, however, there is far more to the story of women in business. I'll tell you more about Count Me In in future posts, but Count Me In is an organization working to fund and support women owned businesses in the US. Although there is no shortage of "women power" in the ethos of this organization that was founded by Nell Merlino (who created Take Your Daughter To Work Day,) the real umph of this organization is in understanding the vital economic impact of women owned businesses.
Back to that 10.4 million number for a second. While more than 70% of those women-owned businesses have revenues in excess of $50,000, only 3% have revenue in excess of $1M. If you're curious, men's companies double that. (Which brings up 2 points that very important. 1-men are still outperforming there and 2-MOST business in the US is small business!)
What if there were 1 Million women owned business in the US that reached $1 Million in revenue? Well, in the US, that would mean revenues of about $757,718,000,000. Hmmm, that is the whirring of an economic engine, is it not? Further, guess what's driving that economic engine - 5,167,637 jobs. In Washington State (where I live,) our "humble" share of that would mean $23,164,503,423 in revenue and 157,982 jobs.
Count Me In hosts a series of national events aimed at bringing women together to discuss how and why to grow your business. But more than that, they coach, guide, inspire and support women's business with the singular goal of getting to the point where we have 1MILLION WOMEN OWNED COMPANIES GENERATING REVENUE IN EXCESS OF $1 MILLION.
Stay tuned for more info about their Seattle event, which takes place on June 11. You can expect interesting panels and discussions. AND, if you think you have a million dollar business, you can enter the contest and earn the right to pitch your business for prizes that include funding, hardware, deals, counseling and other support to get you there. Check them out at www.MakeMineAMillion.org
In the meantime, here are some fun numbers for you from the women at Make Mine A Million:
- Women own 48% of all businesses in the US, that's 9.1 million businesses.
- Women owned businesses contribute more than $3.6 trillion to the US marketplace
- Women account for more than 70% of consumer spending (which is a good reminder of Guy Kawasaki's advice to always run your idea past a woman to see what she thinks.)
- 55% of women provide half - or more - of their household income, yet 80% of all women in the workforce earn less than $25,000 a year.
Wow, that's a lot of opportunity for women, and for the country. Yes, it would be great to see a million women owned companies playing in the big leagues, but it would be even better to see the country as a whole achieve that kind of economic vitality by nourishing the creative energy of all of our citizens.
---
Cross posted from Start Her Up
]]>Did you know that our government is building a wall that will keep jaguars, bears antelopes, migratory birds and countless other species of animals out of the US?
]]>Did you know that our government is building a wall that will keep jaguars, bears antelopes, migratory birds and countless other species of animals out of the US? Indeed, by building a single wall, they will be able to protect us from the vicious plight of the Sonoran Plonghorn, an insidious bird, of which only 100 exist, and they can be wiped out with one fell swoop - or section of border wall. Yes, it started as an ostensibly logical (?) solution to the immigration problem, (because everyone knows it's better to deal with symptoms than problems) but it has turned into an environmental disaster.
When congress passed the REAL ID Act in 2005 - which is what granted the authority to build the border wall - I don't think the intent was to demand REAL ID from all native species in order for them to continue their natural grazing and migration, or life in their natural habitat.
But that is precisely what's happening. In a sweeping waiver aimed at speeding up the construction of the 670-mile wall along the US / Mexico border, congress granted the Department of Homeland Security the permission to ignore virtually every existing environmental regulation dealing with construction.
What's the big deal? According to a Sierra Club statement:
The proposed border wall in all three Texas areas targeted for wall construction could potentially negatively impact: 1. Riparian woodland and wetland habitat; 2. Threatened, endangered and rare animal and vegetative species; 3. Migratory birds, bats and butterflies, including some threatened and endangered species; 4. Plans to create wildlife corridors; 5. Management plans and natural habitat areas; 6. River flows (as a result of local soil erosion and cut off of local arroyos); 7. Livestock management (due to the loss of foraging and watering areas along the Rio Grande); 8. Enjoyment and study of archaeological, cultural and historic sites; 9. Eco-tourism opportunities in the Rio Grande; and 10. The economies of certain areas (due to the loss of eco-tourism and even legal migration).
I am particularly amused that, according to an MSNBC article, the government of Mexico is pleading with the US government for expanded environmental impact studies, as this wall threatens 100s of native species and indigenous eco systems that exist nowhere else on earth. Um, considering Mexico City is one of the most polluted places on the planet, the fact that they are urging us to look at what were doing is frightening to me. That's bad! (The picture I have in my head is of a strung out junkie looking at someone about to stick a needle in their arm for the first time, saying, "dude, don't do it!" I think we should listen!)
Indeed, according to a quote on Treehugger.com, "Mexico's top environmental official, Juan Rafael Elvira Quesada, noted that the wall, built to prevent Mexican immigrants from entering US territory, is an environmental threat to the region's deserts, mountains, rivers, swamps and marches, whose biodiversity is very rich.
‘We must bear in mind that biodiversity does not belong to the Mexicans or the Americans, because it belongs to the entire world,' Elvira Quesada noted."
What's being done about it?
According to the MSNBC article, there was talk of the Mexican Government bringing it to the United nations international Court in the Hague if need be. So that's something. But where are all the environmental activists that usually take up causes like this. There has been media coverage about the remarkably slow and quiet response of many traditionally rabid activists. Not surprisingly, Grist.com delivers a great article about not only the environmental impact, but also the walls and fences that have silenced many voices. Although you should read the article for yourself, Grist notes that The Sierra Club in particular has, in the past, taken a "population stabilization" stand that some perceive as contradiction any attempt to stop the wall.
From the Grist.com article, "The Club started doing serious outreach to minority communities in the mid-1990s, but worried that those efforts could be complicated by the Club's longstanding position that America should "bring about the stabilization of the population first of the United States and then of the world" -- a philosophy that could be interpreted as anti-immigrant."
But, perhaps we should give Chertoff the last word here. Alternet.com quotes Chertoff as responding to the environmental outcry by saying, "I've seen pictures of human waste, garbage, discarded bottles and other human artifact in pristine areas," Chertoff said last fall. "And believe me, that is the worst thing you can do to the environment."
Got that? That beer bottle you left behind, worse than a 670-mile wall that destroys dozens of species and disrupts a fragile ecosystem. If you say so, but that seems like fuzzy logic to me. All the redneck partiers in the world couldn't leave behind enough garbage to match that wall and the logic with which it's being built.
Originally posted at JUST CAUSE. All of the active links to referenced articles are on JUST CAUSE (I'm just too lazy to reenter all of them, but this story was too good not to share.)
]]>There was a time when "googling" yourself was considered vain. Now, however, you need to google yourself often, not because you're vain, but because everybody out there is googling you, and you need to know what they're finding. YOU need to be the master of your domain.
]]>There was a time when "googling" yourself was considered vain. Now, however, you need to google yourself often, not because you're vain, but because everybody out there is googling you, and you need to know what they're finding. YOU need to be the master of your domain. Every angel, VC, potential partner, employee - they're all googling you. Google yourself daily - fear not, no hairy palms here.
We've all heard the stories of "kids" not getting hired for jobs because a potential employer found pictures of them licking whipped cream off of a friend while drunk at a college party. (And, let's be honest, we've all done things like that, so we'll address the hypocrisy later.) But, there are equivalent stories for adults.
1. That blog post you left about wanting to hang the president by his nuts.
2. That picture of you drunk at a fundraiser with your hand too close to someone's breast.
3. The personal blog that you think no one reads in which you confessed that your spouse repulses you and you have a crush on your best friend.
4. The lawsuit that was filed against you when you didn't fix your sewer line and flooded your neighbor's basement.
5. The press release that announces your hiring by a company that you didn't put on your resume because you only lasted 3 weeks and didn't want anyone to know about it.
6. All those online social networking sites you joined for whatever reason.
...and the list goes on.
The question is, what do you do about it?
1. Know what's there so that you can prepare answers if someone asks you about it. If it's a quote in an article, a press release on a site, a picture at an event, or any other "public" scenario, it's very likely that you can't do anything about it, so have your answers ready. (My personal favorite, I wrote a (brilliant of course) Op Ed piece for the Seattle Times that resulted in someone blogging about me, and saying that I was "chirping vacuously." I love that. Growing up I was always "that weird, smart, quiet girl," so the vacuous and chripy thing was a thrill. But when asked about it, I proudly say that I always speak my mind and sometimes that upsets people so they resort to Ad Hominem attacks. I then forward them a link to the Op Ed piece so they can see how I think and write.)
2. If you have posted a photo, blog entry, or comment on a blog that is likely to cause you a problem - DELETE IT. No, it's not really gone forever, but it's unlikely someone would bother to do forensic resurrections on everything you ever posted.
3. If your profile from online social networking sites is popping up on the first page of a Google results page, and they are not networking sites that you use or that mean something to you, delete your memberships. Just this morning I deleted two (one of which was a group that I liked) because the search result made it look like I was Founder & CEO of that company, which I am not, so I deleted my membership. (To all of those people who are building online social networking sites - if your member's profiles are turning up in Google searches like that, your members are likely to leave you. Yes, it's clever use of SEO techniques, but if it causes users to leave you, it's not worth it. There's a reason why Facebook doesn't do that.)
4. Political and Charitable donations are ALL online. No big deal, but you may get asked why you're donating to an organization that's fighting to reform drug policy. Be prepared to explain why.
The good news is, you can also use Google to your advantage. If you are hoping to be perceived as someone with a lot of knowledge in your field, you can start blogging and commenting on sites that you think your potential investors and partners will read. You can create a breadcrumb trail for yourself by being vocal within your vertical, and that may be one way for potential partner to gain tacit information about you that will help you.
Now, for better or worse, many details of our personal lives are online. If you are deeply involved in your church, that'll probably turn up. A cigar club, wooden boats, lacrosse.... all of that will likely turn up. So what should you do?
You should be you. Personally, I find this all to be a great relief. We're all being "outed," and it is my greatest hope that as a result, we will all be more comfortable being perceived as fully human.
Another anecdote. (Stuff you'd find out if you google me.) I'm a fan of Burning Man. If you google hard enough, you will find pictures of me in silver with glittery eyelashes. It was suggested (rather emphatically) to me, early on, that I might want to bury those pictures and not ever talk about that side of me. I was livid at the suggestion. At the same time, Mark Pincus was selling Tribe.net to Cisco Systems (a successful exit in the books of any VC,) and it takes 2 seconds to find entire photo streams of Mark at Burning Man. I had, also at that same time, just returned from Burning Man, where I had spent lovely glittery evenings with several people who are serious angel investors and VCs from Seattle. But for me, it wasn't okay?
I made a decision, at that point, to be exactly who I am. If you want to ask me why artistic expression and personal freedom matters to me, I'm happy to tell you. If you want to ask me why I post so much about my very strong beliefs in civil unions for all, I'm happy to tell you. If you want to know why I donate my time and money to groups like Women's Funding Alliance, PONCHO, Youth Theater Northwest, Planned Parenthood, I'm happy to tell you. You'll find all that and more if you Google me. I think it is in my best interest for potential investors and partners to know who I REALLY am, because I am not interested in working with people who want me to be anything else.
The point? First impressions now happen long before you shake hands for the first time. You can use that to your advantage by deleting anything that you don't want people to see. You can also plant information about you in strategic places for people to see. But most of all, the Web creates an impression of you that is deeper and more complex than you could ever accomplish in any interview or investor meeting. It's all there, for better or worse, so use it. Or lose it.
(originally posted on www.StartHerUp.com)
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While pissing off the Seattle Institutional Angel community may not have been her best move ever, Alyssa Royse believes that only by speaking openly and honestly about things that matter will be be able to change the world, and that's what her startup, JUST CAUSE IT, is all about.
John Cook mentioned my blog (thanks John,) and all sorts of supposed "controversy ensued."
]]>John Cook mentioned my blog (thanks John,) and all sorts of supposed "controversy ensued."
The one comment that I'm bothering to call out is this one:
well, her provocativeness was a strategy. Who would visit that one
of billions site with blog. Now after John has promoted her she might
find a few angels.
She could do race subject or "American fries". Everything works. She achieved her goal, well done
Um, THANKS, I guess.
But I wasn't trying to be provocative, I was just telling the truth
as it looks through my eyes. It's not a universal truth, but I am
telling you what I think and see, what I've learned. My goal was not
necessarily to get angels or even readers necessarily, it was to tell
other entrepreneurs the things that I wish someone had told me.
It wasn't to promote women even, or judge men. It was - as I said in
my first blog post - to talk about my experience as a woman. Because I
am 100% certain that my experience as a woman is different than it
would be if I were a man. I'm not judging it, I'm not bothered by it,
but I find it interesting. At times i find it incredibly amusing. (I
hereby promise you a post on sports metaphors and sex metaphors in a
"pitch." Hint, I don't know anything about sports.)
If I have a larger goal here, it is to present a fully-fleshed
picture of what goes into building a company, and what goes in to being
fully human. Even the most successful entrepreneurs amongst us are
human. They make mistakes, they say stupid things, they fart, they
think about sex, they don't have enough hours in the day and sometimes
they just feel like crap. The things we have in common far out number
the things that separate us. While all of our products and companies
are different, at the end of the day, we play the same game, and we are
the ones that just keep going. Just don't stop.
So, no, I have not yet achieved my goal. I have not achieved my goal
until people can listen to me talk about being a woman without
believing that I am bashing men. I am not bashing men or promoting
women, I am just telling you my story. I have not achieved my goal
until all of us can admit we made mistakes and learned from them
without it being perceived as a weakness. I have not achieved my goal
until we can talk about how different we are and how differently we
approach things without forgetting that what we have in common is
strength, courage and the need for each other's support. I have not
achieved my goal until we can question the system without hearing it as
condemnation.
My goal was and is to create honest and open dialog. As a woman. A
mother. A wife. A friend. A lover. An entrepreneur. Because I believe
that our strength as human beings is our depth as human beings. And
that when we are able to tap into ALL of it and be FULLY who we are,
then - and only then - are we free and supported to to create the best
companies possible. The ones that change the world.
My goals is that you can learn a little something from my mistakes
as well as my successes. There's a lot of stuff that no one told me,
I'm going to tell it to you.
To that end, if you have a question, shoot me an email. And I think
maybe I'll start asking questions too.... Takes two to dialog!
This is from Start Her Up, which also has posts about angel investing, building a board, VC's with too much money and nowhere to spend it - stuff I see as a chick in business.
____
Alyssa Royse has made a lot of mistakes, learned a lot and changed a lot in the process of building JUST CAUSE, and is grateful to everyone who has helped her.
1. Samoas are clearly made by the devil - whoever that is - for the soul purpose of undermining my will, stability and perpetually "almost where I want it" body. They are irresistible little deathbombs laughably shaped like Liferings (proving that irony is a fickle bitch.)
]]>1. Samoas are clearly made by the devil - whoever that is - for the soul purpose of undermining my will, stability and perpetually "almost where I want it" body. They are irresistible little deathbombs laughably shaped like Liferings (proving that irony is a fickle bitch.)
2. They are a time suck. It takes a ridiculous amount of energy to sell these things, collect money and deliver them. And even when we kid ourselves into thinking that our daughters are doing the work, we really are.
3. They make virtually no money for the troop. 50 cents of a $4 box goes to the troop. What is that, 12%. That's a crappy margin given the fact that we do all the work.
4. I don't like teaching my daughter that crappy margins and negligible profit attained by executing on someone else's vision and on their terms is a good way to approach business. Doesn't work for me. Where's the innovation? The disruptive technology? The creativity?
5. They never change. These are the same cookies I was selling 30 years ago. Or would have been selling if I hadn't been kicked out of the Girl Scouts for insubordination.
I have come to the conclusion that I am just going to figure out what the troop would have made on Celia's 112 boxes sold and write a check to the troop next year for that same amount. Then, instead of her getting a prize from the scouts for selling the cookies, I'm going to buy her something way better for NOT making me deal with the cookies.
In any event, they're almost all delivered now. I've paid for all of them, so if people don't claim them, I guess we can just eat them. Which will suck.
But, I was feeling that sigh of relief knowing that it was almost over, until Celia came home from school announcing that they are doing a fundraiser (to pay for basic stuff, because she goes to a public school and they are so underfunded that we have to make up the difference rather than have our government figure out how to fund the basic needs of its citizens. Who needs public education when we can have more highways?) Guess what the fundraiser is? We're selling cookie dough.
Yup. What's the only thing more irresistible than Girl Scout Cookies? Cookie Dough.
I'm just going to write a check. It's better for my health.
___
Alyssa Royse
]]>As a result, I was pretty stunned when I heard that she, along with her friends, did something that horrified and REALLY angered me. On a lot of levels. It, however, is not the point of the story. It's aftermath is.
]]>As a result, I was pretty stunned when I heard that she, along with her friends, did something that horrified and REALLY angered me. On a lot of levels. It, however, is not the point of the story. It's aftermath is.
The result of her actions was that when she got home from school, her TV and computer were gone. As were her phone privileges, and the ability to hang out with her friends for a week. Harsh.
None of that, however, was as bad as "the conversation" we had to have as a result. As a mom, it's easy to know that these moments we share are magical, even when they're sparked for unpleasant reasons. We sat close to each other, looking in each others eyes (hers filled with tears and occasionally averted with the knowledge that she had really let me down.) The leather seat of the sofa between us quivered slightly as she shook from her sobbing. I knew it was special, but had to stay stern. My job, at that moment, was to remind her that there are swift and sever repercussions when one makes decisions they know are bad that turn into actions they know are wrong. (Later I'll tell her that we all keep doing that forever, but now was not a time for nuance.)
She went to her room. Time crawled. I wondered what she was thinking.
Until she came back out and announced that she wanted to paint. She wanted to paint a picture of our friend's cat George. (We call him George the inferior, because, well, he's inferior to our cat George.) So we set her up on the floor, by my feet where I was still working. We talked a bit about blending colors and shades, a bit about perspective, and off she went. Soon she was smiling, humming as she painted. Soon she was happy.
Then she read a book. She was clearly happy.
At dinner, she was downright bubbly. I commented that "grounding" her didn't seem to be doing much good. (I said it with a smile on my face.) And she said, "mom, just because I'm grounded doesn't mean I have to be miserable, it just means I have to find something else to do."
I could have cried. That lesson is SO MUCH MORE IMPORTANT than anything I meant to teach her. And she got it all by herself.
Her painting of George is beautiful. As we speak, she is at my feet again, reading a book about Matisse while practicing "blending" on a painting that appears to be balloons in a cloudy sky. A 9 year olds version of Monet's Water Lillies? And proof that the lessons in life are rarely the ones we set out to learn.
]]>6:00 – pull laptop into bed:
check email. (no, I don't even have that organ don't need it enlarged.)
check BlogHer, comment on at least 2 posts
check JustCauseIt.com, promote good blogs, check traffic
check IM to see if any friends are in bed with their laptops on their laps
6:00 – pull laptop into bed:
check email. (no, I don't even have that organ don't need it enlarged.)
check BlogHer, comment on at least 2 posts
check JustCauseIt.com, promote good blogs, check traffic
check IM to see if any friends are in bed with their laptops on their laps
6:30 – snuggle with warm yeasty smelling girl talk about the day to come, kiss her, wish she weren't growing so fast.
6:45 – get up
6:46 – change mind, 7:00 is a better time to get up
7:00 – get up. COFFEEEEEEEE. Feed cats, dog, chickens, daughter.
7:30 – coffee in hand, sit on the couch and WORK. Answer emails, set up meetings, stalk investors (be sweet, unless they're really ignoring me, think about resorting to blackmail, decide against it.)
8:00 – legitimate work day begins. Call / email all the bloggers and writers. Call / email board members and tell them what you NEED them to do.
8:30 – kiss daughter good bye, "have a good day at school."
8:35 – more coffee
8:45 – revise the PowerPoint (for the 800th time) for pitch tonight. Should I do it for the meeting I have this morning? No, no angel ever wants to see the PowerPoint….
9:00 – maybe I ought to revise the Executive Summary too. Nah, it looks good.
9:10 – Look at bank account and figure out which bills we can pay. Web developers, yeah, gotta pay them. Lawyer? Hmmmm, he's the best, he'll let us wait. Me? Yeah right!!!!!!!
9:30 – That was depressing! More coffee. Maybe I'll put whiskey in it.
9:45 – Print out 9 copies of the Exec summary. Wait, why is there no paper. Damnit.
10:00 – put in a load of laundry, walk past daughter's room, notice new paper chains hanging from the bunk bed. Oh. Paper.
10:30 – shower, and prep for 11:30 meeting with Angel while in the shower. Shake hands with the shampoo bottle, make eye contact with the shelf while explaining the value proposition of an integrated media company. Explain to the loofah that "this is what Rupert Murdoch wanted to do when he bought MySpace, but you can't sell ads into the page of a pedophile from Paducah." Got it. Ready.
10:45 – Get dressed. Hmmmm, which jeans? Really tight? Name brand? Oh, look, these are lying on the floor by the bed from last night, and look, there are socks in the boots still. Perfect. This is what we call efficient. Right?
11:00 – In the car. (Damn, I need to deliver those Girl Scout Cookies.)
THE rest of the day, which includes 2 pitches to "angels," a bottle opener and a WII can be read on Start Her Up
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