Sandra Tedford, president and CEO of
Chicago Woman Entrepreneur and host of the third annual Women of
Influence Entrepreneur Seminar, which will be held Aug. 25 at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place in Chicago, offers the following tips to women entrepreneurs.
Access to Capital
“Many women don’t know there are some creative ways to find capital. We
have heard of angel investors and friends and family, however, we
overlook the niche, ‘boutique’ banks such as Diamond Bank. They are a
special bank because they take the time to educate their clients on
business banking and help them find capital for their company and
develop their financial plan.”
Staffing Issues
“Stop trying to do everything yourself! Look for opportunities to
outsource tasks. Get interns, hire an agency, or otherwise look for
help. Find ways to work smarter, not harder.”
Lack of Strategic Planning
“You must have a specific goal and you must have a plan on how you are
going to get there. Small business owners must understand the value of
strategic planning. Many small business owners have had some exposure
to strategic planning in the corporate structure. Those skills are
transferrable to your business. Remember those times when you had a
boss and you thought about how you would do things differently.”
Purposeless Networking
“Too often, we don’t see enough purposeful networking among women. We
come, exchange a bunch of cards and move on. We must focus on having
our networking goals in mind before the networking event so we can get
everything we possibly can out of the networking experience.”
Chicago
Woman Entrepreneur, along with new social media site GoBlackbook.net,
is proud to host the 3rd Annual Women of Influence Entrepreneur Seminar
for current and aspiring women business owners on Aug. 25, 2009, at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place located at 2233 S. Martin Luther King Dr. in Chicago. www.chicagowe.com/seminar/
