Meet the Real Women

Introducing our next featured rising entrepreneur Marianne Korten, the founder of Soul at Work who runs a professional and personal development company for conscious communication through coaching, training, workshops and presentations. Marianne Korten lives in Amsterdam, The Netherlands with her boyfriend and cat Knuffel.

 

Tell us about why you decided to start your own business? My main reason for starting my own business is that I felt something pulling at me while I was working at my previous company. It was a feeling or kind of soul awareness that said I needed to be in another place. I felt I had gifts to share that I could not express in my job. I could list my talents however there were and are so many qualities still hidden that I felt the only way to discover who I am is to dive into the unknown. So I started my own business in 2005, after graduating as a certified trainer and coach communication skills.

 

What do you consider your greatest challenge so far? The biggest challenge is to stay focused. Once I realised that I broke through the comfortable and relatively ‘safe’ job environment, I noticed that I can create anything I want. This is a great realisation and fear at the same time. I have many ideas and have to stay focused to turn my dreams into reality.

 

Who or what has been a major source of inspiration? A major source of inspiration was reading and talking to people who made the jump in the past from being an employee to becoming self-employed. Nick Williams (www.nick-williams.com) is a source of inspiration, which started after reading his books and attending a workshop with people who also wanted to leave the workforce to create a living out of their passion.

 

Further I find talking to my nearby fellow entrepreneurs in Amsterdam a true inspiration. Knowing we all face the same fears, obstacles and hearing about each other’s unique ways of moving through the frustrations is giving me energy every time! The free newsletter ‘Changing Course’ (www.changingcourse.com) is a true delight to get ideas and mental support to create your own business as well.

 

Do you have any words of wisdom for other female entrepreneurs starting their own business venture? Just start, and then keep on going, you are unique and brilliant. Listen to people who are doing what you do, they will push your inspiration button and avoid the ones that have not made the jump into the unknown themselves, they will push your fear button. Your choice! Enjoy and give expression to all sides of you! We are waiting for you!

 

Time Management… for your handbag

Following her recent introduction, REAL Woman featured entrepreneur, Nicole Delamore of www.keeptrackconcierge.com shares with us her expertise,  helping us to be more organised, starting with our handbag!

 There are some key moments that can make a busy woman go crazy; one is trying to find something important after you’ve switched bags. You know the feeling, panic setting in because you thought you had the key to your work drawer in that bag or you’re rummaging through your bag to find the phone.    

It’s amazing how as a busy professional you are able to manage, organize and keep track of your day. Be it an office meeting, attending an event or a last minute change to a schedule; you can make it appear that all is under control. So why not do the same when it comes to your bag? If you’re a bag lover, then you can identify with my habit of constantly switching bags. Why? To match my outfit, shoes, mood, the day or just because it’s new. So what does one normally do … dump things from one bag to the next. Here is where the madness begins! 

We constantly hear ‘Time is of the Essence’ so why not invest a bit of time to arrange your bag. Wait!!! Before turning your bag out to clean it for the umpteenth time; sit and make a plan, the same you would for a meeting. Take 5 minutes and write down the most important things you may need at any given moment; I’m not talking toiletries. Think more in lines of your pass for the office building or the ear piece for your phone etc. Once you’re done add the following items:

An extra house key

A copy of your ID/Drivers license

A bank pass

A pen

1 pair panty hose, preferably black

Small sewing kit

A nail clip with file

Your list with all the important items

So it’s time to go shopping. You will need to look for the smallest and simplest cocktail looking purse that will hold all the items you’ve listed. Remember it’s not just another bag! Finally, dump everything out of your bag(s) and transfer your important items into this Time Management bag. Imagining how much time you are saving yourself at this very moment. Every time you switch bags, you can rest assured that you are not forgetting anything important. To keep things updated, make a date with your bag at the end of every month.

Still not convinced? Look at it this way… you’ll be able to find that ringing phone at the bottom of your bag a lot easier!

 

Invoicing made easier

Book keeping is a mundane task but essential to running a business efficiently. Without it no accounting information can be compiled for the tax authorities and of course, you can’t get paid by your clients!

 

In the start-up years, administering invoices and collecting payments might seem like a doddle but as the business grows, keeping on top of your sales and purchases can become time consuming taking you away from your focus – making money!

 

When it gets to this point, you would be wise to get help. Help comes in various forms. You could employ an Administrator to visit your office once a week or month to administer your books in preparation for your Accountant (note: an Accountant is worth their money – without one you may end paying too much tax or end up in deep water for not paying enough!).

 

But if you have a home based office, it might not be convenient for an Administrator to visit your home. An alternative solution could be to hire an experienced Virtual Assistant. A Virtual Assistant works remotely using the internet, email and telephone to communicate with you, so you don’t need to accommodate them at your place of work.

 

If you’re still reluctant to outsource your book keeping, an option is to invest in financial software or an online billing tool to make the task, somewhat, easier for yourself. Below we’ve compiled a list of online resources worth checking out.

 

http://www.easyforyou.be/ (Based in Belgium – with other language options)

http://www.datacapture.co.uk/ (Based in UK – English language only)

http://www.simac.com/ (Based in Netherlands – English language option)

 

Free Resources:

http://www.ideawins.com/ (Microsoft product but available for European use)

http://www.sidejobtrack.com/ (Based in USA but available for European use)

http://www.invoiceplace.com (Based in Australia but available for European use)

 

 

Meet the Real Women

Welcome to the first in a series of ‘REAL Women Feature Interviews’ where we ask European female business owners to share their entrepreneurial experiences:

Introducing Nicole Delamore, she is the founder of Keep Track Concierge. As a private concierge, her company offers busy professionals living in or visiting the Netherlands the luxury of having a personal assistant and event planner when essential. Nicole lives with her 6 year old son in Den Helder, an hour’s drive outside of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Tell us about why you decided to start your own business?

As a quick learner, a person who can work independent and someone who goes the distance when assisting on or doing a project, it just felt natural to want to become my own boss. The point that I made the decision to start my own business was when my critics decided they would try and keep me from reaching the glass ceiling. Knowing that I was capable of doing the work was never much of the issue, but putting me up for the position was more of a problem. The constant excuse was that I did not have the right qualifications (diploma) and so I saw myself teaching others to enter positions that I could have easily fill.

What do you consider your greatest challenge so far?

At this point my greatest challenge is people taking me serious. I’ve chosen to follow a career path in an industry that is very young and even more infant to The Netherlands. Also marketing the company on limited funds also does not help the matter. Although in every profession networking is important, this aspect I’ve learnt to be the life line in the Concierge profession.

Another difficult challenge is building a reputation for ones business. As the new kid on the block many are not willing to risk going into the unknown and this is where networking helps to slowly bridge this problem.

Who or what has been a major source of inspiration?

It is less of an inspiration, but more of a drive…and that is not to be just another statistic in the Dutch society. As a foreigner, black woman and a single mother living in The Netherlands, it’s as if the script has already been written for one: don’t expect to go any further than on welfare. To this I say, even if I fail … I can at least say I did it my way and tried.
The inspirations comes from knowing and believing that I have the talent to turn ones intangible dream into something beautiful. Likewise assisting and save someone the headache of having to get things done when they lack the time or are having a stressful moment, gives me a satisfied feeling.

Do you have any words of wisdom for other female entrepreneurs starting their own business venture?

Create a network that includes positive, knowledgeable and well connected people. Why I say this; its true entrepreneurship can be very lonely at times, especially if you work from home. There are days that everything can go wrong and you just feel to stop. Having support from others who can listen and advise you can be just the encouragement needed to over come hurdles.

Lastly believe in yourself and go on that business venture.

Quote: Stop trying … trying is failing with honour. (James Arthur Ray)

 

Quotes worth sharing

“A woman is like a teabag. It’s only when she’s in hot water that you realize how strong she is.”
Nancy Reagan, former First-Lady of the United States of America

Do you have an inspiring or motivational quote to share? Leave us a comment.

 

Women like gadgets too!

At last the high-tech companies are designing gadgets without the geek factor,  specifically aimed at women.  Fancy a designer lap-top cover or a diamond encrusted MP-3 player?

Check out this recent article from the International Herald Tribune.

Geeky gadgets get a shot of high-fashion bling
By Victoria Shannon Published: March 22, 2007

PARIS: What do women want? That age-old question, normally applied to love and romance, is increasingly being aimed at technology and its gadgetry.

From diamond-encrusted MP3 cases to audio speakers encased in pillows, from electrical cables in shades of pink to designer names on laptop covers, thousands of products have sought over the years to de-nerd and un-geek technology to win over women and lift sales.

Now, Philips, the consumer electronics giant, and Swarovski, the cut-crystal company, are teaming up in the belief that evaluating “what women want” from the ground up may be a better way.

The two announced on Thursday a multiyear partnership that brings together designers from both companies to create, develop and market consumer electronics accessories under a new brand, Active Crystals.

“There is a gap in the market for lifestyle electronics,” said Henk de Jong, general manager of business group peripherals and accessories for Philips, in a telephone interview from Eindhoven, the Netherlands. “Women age 20 to 40 are enormously interested in a blending of lifestyle, design and functional technology that is not intrusive.”

The first two fashion products from the Philips-Swarovski collection are a flash drive and headphones, to be introduced in April. Others will follow this year, executives said without elaborating. De Jong’s unit is responsible for products like remote controls, Web cameras, headphones, batteries, DVDs, CDs and burners, speakers and cables.

In the past, Swarovski has licensed its stylish name and crystals for a variety of electronic gadgets — there are, for example, a pink Swarovski Nintendo DS Lite game player, a Decokichi Swarovski-encrusted mouse, headphones with Swarovski crystals by D’Cruz, Swarovski-embellished ear buds from Elecom and a Zakang Kiss heart- shaped MP3 players with Swarovski crystals.

But Daniel Cohen, a member of the executive board of the privately held Austrian company, said during an interview by telephone in Paris that this was its first formal design partnership. While the other products have largely used Swarovski crystals as an add-on, Active Crystals products would work the cut- glass into the design at the concept stage. Most of the designers on the initial products are women, he said.

For Philips, the move to higher-end fashion products could help its shrinking margins on consumer electronics, whose sales represent about 40 percent of the Dutch company’s overall €27 billion, or $36 billion, in annual revenue. The company in December warned analysts that operating profit margins on consumer electronics would slip to 3 percent this year in the highly competitive field.

The Philips-Swarovski peripherals will carry a modest price premium, executives indicated. The price range over the whole product line will be €40 to €250, they said. “We didn’t want to price it so that women think it is not for them,” de Jong said.

Rudy Provoost, chief executive of Philips Consumer Electronics, in a phone interview from Amsterdam called peripherals and accessories “a strategic priority” for the company that should generate double-digit percentage sales growth and two to three times the profit margins of consumer electronics as a whole.

“This is a long-term strategy for us,” Provoost said about the Swarovski move. “There are many concepts on the table — sound and storage are just the entry points. Consumer electronics in many respects has become a lifestyle business, and, I would say, a fashion business.”

Katie Lee, who runs Shiny Shiny, a London-based self-proclaimed “girl’s guide to gadgets” on the Internet, said products that featured Swarovski crystals have been popular searches since her Web site started three years ago, while the Philips name is seen as, “well, reliable.”

In general, Lee said, girl gadgets with designer names “are very hot today,” citing a Prada cellphone as especially attention-grabbing.

“It’s tricky,” she said. The product “has to work, but you also can’t tell what is going to catch on. The iPod was not the first music player. And the Motorola Razr is actually hard to use as a cellphone.”

The emphasis by electronics companies on seeking a feminine touch, Lee added, “is less about women catching up with technology and more about tech companies catching up with women.”

 

In pursuit of the truth

By now, you’ve probably gathered that I’m an avid reader of reports and surveys which focus on entrepreneurial activity. In particular, I’m interested in the facts and figures concerning the rise in micro- and small-enterprises initiated by women. In pursuit of the truth, my search has lead me to the most insightful report on women entrepreneurship currently available:

Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2006 Report on Women and Entrepreneurship

Other relevant reports and surveys that I should be reading? Please leave me a reply.

 

Leap with eyes wide open

Its not often that we read about women who’ve swapped their well paid job to become a rising entrepreneur.  But when we do, you have to agree, these stories offer a great source of inspiration. After all, who in their right mind would leave the safety of a well-paid job to embark on the ’rollercoaster ride’ of  being self-employed? :-)

My recommendation to any woman contemplating this change of direction is to first read;  “Smart Women and Small Business: How to Make the Leap from Corporate Careers to the Right Small Enterprise” written by Ginny Wilmerding.

The book offers a goldmine of practical advise on the different options and all from a female point of view.  Below is a reprint of an interview with the author with acknowledgement to the Centre for Women’s Leadership Babson College 

1. What prompted you to write Smart Women and Small Business: How to Make the Leap from Corporate Careers to the Right Small Enterprise?

I wrote this book because it didn’t exist, and there was a huge need for something like it. Five years ago, as an aspiring business-owner looking to buy a business with a partner, I found that none of the small business advice books that really impressed me were written from a female point of view, and the books that were written for women focused on two themes: starting businesses from scratch and running home-based businesses. I felt that there were so many more paths to consider and that women needed to hear about other women who had followed them: paths that included buying a business, acquiring a franchise, consulting for or joining a small business, working in or taking over a family company, and working with business partners (female or male). Five years later, when I was bought out of the wholesale importing company I co-owned with a partner, I decided to take some time off to interview about 50 women and experts and write the book. I wrote this book simply because I wanted to make a difference in women’s lives. I want my readers to know that I am one of them and I can relate to them. I hope the book helps each woman approach her search for the right small enterprise in the smartest way possible, so that she can be not only happy, but financially successful.

2. Why is the book for women only? Don’t men and women need the same kinds of advice about small business?

Most of the advice in the book is equally applicable to men and women, but there are several reasons why this book is tailored to a female audience. First, many mid-career women find it more useful to combine a discussion of business and careers with their concerns about work-family balance. They want to think about business choices such as retail vs. wholesale, bank financing vs. equity financing, and partners vs. going it alone within the context of how they’ll be able to juggle everything on a day-to-day basis. Second, women really respond well to mentoring and positive role models, and this book is filled with examples of women they can relate to, emulate, and take personal inspiration from. Finally, many women haven’t been socialized to be comfortable with the nuts and bolts of business and money in the same way as men. Focusing openly on profits and cash flow, debt and credit issues, and the monetary value of the businesses they’ve created doesn’t always come naturally to them. This is one reason why, even though women-owned businesses are the fastest growing small business sector, businesses with over $1 million in revenue owned by men outnumber those owned by women by a factor of 8 to 1. Although I am not suggesting that women must create huge growth businesses, I do want to help women become unapologetic about being profit-oriented and more comfortable with taking risks so that their businesses survive and their efforts turn out to be financially worthwhile.

3. For the future entrepreneurs out there, are there some lessons that you or the women you interviewed learned the hard way and want to share?

There are many:

• Change the way you think about business careers, focusing less on prestigious titles, salary, and resumes and more on how you want to spend your time and make good use of your background. Look at the down-to-earth small business world as a worthy target of your highest career ambitions.
• Realize that starting a business from scratch is probably the hardest way to get started. Existing businesses can offer lower risk and more predictability. Before you write off buying a business as too expensive, consider not only your startup costs but the income you will forego while you build your way to profitability.
• Spend a day visiting or working in a similar business to the one you want to start or buy, to be sure it’s what you want to do.
• Design your business so that it’s not overly dependent on you, and delegate as much as you can. Your business will be worth more, and you will feel less of a burden to make everything happen.
• Don’t be afraid to borrow money; do what it takes to apply for a proper business loan. Your business is more likely to fail and you are more likely to face credit problems if you don’t plan for your capital needs in advance and instead depend on credit cards and money from friends and family.
• If you’re going to work with a business partner, prepare yourself for partnership success by planning for it very deliberately. In addition to legal documents, spell out your different roles and responsibilities so they’re crystal clear, and consider going on a retreat to get to know the ins and outs of each other’s personalities.

 

International Women’s Day

As the sun goes down on International Women’s Day, I ask myself whether one day of celebration is really enough? Why not celebrate each and every day the achievements of women - starting with ourselves!

When was the last time you gave yourself a pat-on-the-back for a job well done? The fact is, if you don’t acknowledge your successes, however big or small then no-one else will. Celebrate today and every day, being you!

Earlier today, on the occasion of International Women’s Day, Margot Wallström, Vice President of the European Commission responsible for Institutional relations and communication strategy addressed an audience at the Bilgi University of Istanbul. For a transcript of her speech visit: EUROPA Press Release

 

Enterprise and Entrepreneur Survey

Whilst searching for the latest data on the number of women entrepreneurs by country, I stumbled across an interesting  website powered by Fortis Bank http://www.join2grow.biz. The website is a network for European Entrepreneurs and includes an on-line magazine and results of a European Entrepreneur survey. (Although not strictly ‘European’ as it covered only continental Europe leaving the newest member states out in the cold!)

Over 700 entrepreneurs participated in the survey, a combination of quantitative research and qualitative questioning which included ”What percentage of European entrepreneurs are women?” The results measured a total 12% of participants were women entrepreneurs with the largest proportion of those female business owners located in Spain and the least in the UK. 

The website is a useful resource providing various entrepreneurial facts and figures including a forum to debate the survey results and share success stories with other entrepreneurs. See you there - if you can handle all that testosterone!