Women Grow Business

Fairytale gone wrong

Once upon a time, about 15 years ago, a fierce dragon was terrorizing a small village…

Image: fabi42′s Flickrstream, Creative Commons

Wait, sorry! Wrong story.

Back in the 1990s, a terrible retirement problem was looming. Traditional pension plans were disappearing, 401k plans were taking their place. But few people understood how they worked (or wanted to join them). So companies began enrolling employees into retirement plans automatically—which solved one problem and created a bigger one.

Where do you invest all that cash?

A happy-ish ending

Along came band of sorcerers—um, investment companies—who worked their magic and created… insert tingly music here… a self-contained retirement portfolio that, like a TV dinner, would provide all the financial basics in one package.

Target date funds were designed so that average investors could park their money for 10, 20 or even 30 years—depending on the target retirement date—and a team of professional managers would safeguard their money and help it grow.

And it’s not a fairytale. While still imperfect, target date funds are proving to be a long-term investment solution for millions of people who otherwise might be too intimidated to manage their own money.

Bottom line

No one can cast a spell to make your money grow, but there are ways to make managing your nest egg easier. Learn, explore, ask lots of questions. Your net worth starts here.

More from:

• Amanda Steinberg says “profits come from models, not ideas“
• Patricia Frame on building the capacity of your world

Cross-posted with permission from DailyWorth

DailyWorth’s Editorial Director MP Dunleavey, known for her former “Cost of Living” column with the New York Times, is also the creator of the award-winning “Women in Red” personal finance series on MSN Money, which chronicles the money issues of real women around the country. An award-winning journalist and author of “Money Can Buy Happiness“, MP got her start in personal finance nearly 10 years ago. She is also a columnist for ParentingBody & Soul (a Martha Stewart publication), a regular contributor to SELF magazine. You’ve seen her, heard her or read her work in a variety of media outlets, including NPR’s Marketplace, WCBS-TV, SELF, Good Housekeeping, and countless others. magazine,

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I’m still recovering

from the first-ever Women Grow Business Boot Camp, sponsored by Network Solutions and Steptoe & Johnson LLP, this past weekend. Though “recovering” is probably a poor choice of word; it was anything but draining. It was energizing, fun, empowering… I could go on and on.

Even for those of us who bond easily with other women, I don’t think we can quite imagine what it’s like to be in a roomful of women – around 100 or so on Saturday – all with a common goal: to be the best that they can be at their businesses and lives; and often the two overlap.

I started the day nervous but excited; even though we’d planned for pretty much every eventuality, you know Murphy’s Law has a way of insinuating itself just when you don’t need it to.

I ended the day exhausted, emotionally overloaded and literally tingling with the electricity generated by the women I had the great fortune to encounter during the entire experience of pulling the boot camp together.

Our terrific keynote speaker, Kathy Korman Frey, put it best, I think:

“I started the day excited, but unsure – as I am before every talk I give. I ended the day thinking, ‘These are women who could change the world, and probably will.’ Let this be a lesson to all women out there about how a couple of hours, and a room full of the right people, can change your day, your week, your year, and beyond.”

Image: (cc) Shashi Bellamkonda www.shashi.name | Social Media Swami | www.networksolutions.com

Much more to come in terms of information we want to share with all of you who weren’t there – after all, you are ALL our community – but for now, you can see the photos taken by our own Social Media Swami, Shashi Bellamkonda, here. Embedded below is the great keynote Kathy gave, and you can read her blog post here.

And if you’re serious about growing your business, you should sign up for the Sisterhood of Success webinar Kathy’s teaching this Wednesday.

You’ll come away feeling your eyes have just been opened. I guarantee it.

Shonali Burke is editor of Women Grow Business and one of the country’s leading business communicators, who was named to PRWeek’s inaugural top “40 Under 40″ list of US-based PR professionals. She specializes in creating and implementing integrated (online and off), results-based, measurable communication programs for clients both large and small at Shonali Burke Consulting. An accredited business communicator, she is also Adjunct Faculty at Johns Hopkins University’s M.A. in Communications program and active in the local communications community as President of IABC/DC Metro. Talk to her via her blog, Waxing UnLyrical or Twitter.

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Cross-posted with permission from the DailyWorth

When I was a kid, being raised by a single mom, money was tight. But I always believed that when I crossed a certain income threshold the money stress would evaporate. I’d be free of the need to be frugal—because I’d be able to buy whatever I wanted or needed.

One of the great, ongoing revelations of my adult life is that, for most people, myself included, that’s not true.

Despite having an excellent income—one year’s earning usually surpassing the last—my husband and I still have financial stress and need to make mindful money decisions.

Coming to terms with the real cost of living means that I’m constantly overhauling that old list of “I thought I coulds” and “I should be able tos.”

A few examples, and how they’re changing:

I thought I’d be able to afford a few new outfits every season

Despite all the “save more” cheering that we do on DailyWorth—oh, how I’d love to drop $500 every quarter on a few wardrobe refreshers.

Truth is, that money belongs elsewhere, if we’re going to stick to our goal and save 20% of our take-home pay.

I thought I’d be able to take maternity leave

As the CEO of two companies (DailyWorth and Soapbxx) that depend on my oversight, I wasn’t able to take off even a week when either of my kids was born. With my second—my daughter—I finally mastered the art of breastfeeding while typing.

Feet on stool, pillow on lap, baby on pillow, knees pulled up, feeding baby, and typing. Here’s an ancient post about it.

I’d enjoy regular, womanly pampering

Haircut-and-color, mani/pedis, waxing—I assumed these were a basic right of being female.

These days as we look for more ways to cut, so that we can truly max out our retirement, I’ve said goodbye to mani/pedis (doing them to myself while watching “Modern Family” isn’t so bad), and am toying with DIY hair color touch-ups.

Got any product recommendations or tips? I’m all hair, I mean, ears.

I’d zoom around on the Acela

As someone who travels weekly between NYC and Philadelphia for work, I used to be an Amtrak girl—happily nestled in the cafe car, laptop open. Last month, I traded in my $500 per month Amtrak habit for the Megabus—making that now an $80-a-month cost.

In truth—other than the constant jerking—it’s not that bad. I’m now a bus girl.

I’d have a weekly cleaning lady

Had one, loved her, can’t afford it right now.

It’s painful to cross those old daydreams off my list.

But I take pride in the new realities: smarter spending, steadier savings, a sense of control.

More from:

• Amanda on where profits really come from (and it’s not “ideas”)
• Dealing with day-to-day financial issues from Michelle Singletary’s “The Color of Money” column (Washington Post)
• MP Dunleavey on blogging toward financial sanity

Image: Robert Fairchild, Creative Commons

Amanda Steinberg is the founder of DailyWorth.com, a free daily email about personal finance for women. DailyWorth gives women key insights into building net worth. Sign up today!

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Editor’s note: This is the final post in a three-part series by guest contributor Patrica Frame that looks at the many facets of resilience in women and how we can build our own capacity. This final post examines capacity building on a macro-level: that of your world.

I’ll come right out with it: are you helping to build the capacity of your world?

A bit of fragrance always clings to the hand that gives you roses. ~ Chinese proverb

So often entrepreneurs are stuck in business minutiae that they ignore their own needs for professional and personal development… and here I come suggesting that you help build the capacity of your world too.

But helping the society around you develop resilience and increased capacity can pay back big dividends.  Civil discourse in the US has foundered as too many turn disagreement into personal attacks.  Americans are safer than ever, yet more fearful of any risk in our lives.  Our ability to deal with large, critical issues has deteriorated into jockeying for short-term advantages.

All of these are symptoms of individual and communities’ lack of capacity and resilience.

What can each of us do?

While it is important to start with personal responsibility in all you do, enlarge your focus too.

Ask yourself: what is important to you?  What areas matter enough to dedicate a bit of time and energy to the future of your world?

Some of you may already be incorporating social responsibility and sustainability in their businesses – and more of us probably should.

Volunteer!

There are opportunities everywhere – or you can create your own. Charities, community organizations, religious groups, and causes call out for help.  In many cities, formal volunteer coordinating  groups offer options from one day up through longer-term commitments.

I work with Compass, which organizes teams of MBAs to help non-profits enhance their long-term success.  And every non-profit we work with has difficulty finding active, effective board members!  Perhaps you have the interest to join a board or do projects using your skills to benefit others.

Get active in your community needs.

Local governments need people for a wide range of committees and programs designed to ensure it is a good place to live.  Many have emergency preparedness programs which train you to help in the case of natural disasters or other emergencies.

At the national and international level, organizations exist where you can do similar work.  Think of those in the many charities who went to help after recent earthquakes in other countries (Habitat for Humanity, Rebuilding Together, or EarthWatch as examples).

Reach out online.  Just over a year ago in the face of the dramatic increase in unemployment, a small group created JobAngels to help those looking for work.  Tens of thousands found free support and advice and assistance and jobs via social media.

Among my clients’ executives, there are those who…

… adopted a family for a whole year, and for a Christmas… organized a group to help repaint and repair a school… tutored kids for a school year… supported a science project team or three… donated books to a literacy group… built a homeless shelter… stocked a food pantry.

Others are active politically or in advocacy roles in their profession.  Many volunteer through their religion or their college.

I hope these ideas will trigger some ideas for you to contribute to the larger good, to help us rebuild our resilience and enhance the capacity of our communities.

And, just for you cynics, let me remind you such work also can help you:

• enhance your business
• grow your network
• develop new skills
• find new opportunities for personal and professional success in the future.

I did travelogues in nursing homes when I was very young and now I speak at conferences.  What’s your story?

More from:

• Patricia Frame’s first and second posts in this three-part series
• Business Social Responsibility and its HERproject
• The Stanford Social Innovation Review, which has “strategies, tools and ideas for nonprofits, foundations, and socially responsible businesses”

Image: David Gil, Creative Commons

Regular contributor Patricia A. Frame is an experienced management consultant, speaker, and executive with expertise in human capital. Launching a new Women Grow Business series on human resources for small business, Patricia is founder of Strategies for Human Resources. She helps small to mid-size organizations achieve their goals through more effective human capital strategy and management. She can be reached through her website SHRinsight.com, where archives for her ongoing management series can be found.

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Editor’s note: This is the second in a three-part series by guest contributor Patrica Frame that looks at the many facets of resilience in women and how we can build our own capacity. This second post in the series takes a look at personal capacity building.

So many of us understand the importance of building the capacity of our business, but ourselves? Not so much.

We’ve discussed investing in your professional development. But developing your personal capacity for resilience is also critical.

Resilience allows you to push past difficulties, cope with tough times, and maintain your mental health.  All those are vital to any entrepreneur, not to mention to most humans!

Sure you already know what you should be taking care (yourself, your health, and all those new year’ resolutions)… so how do you understand and build your personal resilience quotient?

First, learn how your brain works

Do you understand how you react to challenges? How your temperament influences your actions?  I see executives all the time who are so tied up emotionally in some problem that they are sense-less or crazy-making.

Understanding personal style and temperament can help you be more effective – and resilient.

If you understand these, you can choose to change when you need to or to cope better with issues that you face.

If you know that what drains your energy and what bolsters it, for example, you can work smarter. One easy introduction is the free Keirsey Temperament tool. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is another.

Read the amusing economics book “Predictably Irrational” by Dan Ariely to see how and why we so often over-estimate small risks and are not rational about our decisions. It will help you think smarter the next time you are making a business move, hiring staff – or buying chocolates.

Brain science is rapidly developing—a little attention and you can use yours to help you grow, to develop greater capacity, and to be resilient.

Second, evaluate past experiences

We rarely use our past difficulties to inform our present. You’ve had times where you overcame an obstacle or dealt with something you did not think you could handle.

Take a moment to consider what your past experiences tell you.

Make a couple of notes, similar to the success stories you have about your work: what was the issue, what did you do, how did you get through the bad time?  Learn from your own stories.  How can you build on the skills and abilities you demonstrated then?

How do you give yourself credit so that you reinforce your resilience?

Recently I discovered that my unflappable husband felt he never could have handled the casualty notifications that I did years ago. I saw them as a terrible time, but now am refocusing to find strengths I could use again.

And for a little encouragement, consider historical women. International Women’s Day is not for a few days, but here is a fascinating collection of photos on women’s progress that reminds us of their resiliency.

Ask your mother or other women you know to help you identify your strengths and resiliency. Get them to talk about their hard times and share skills.

Third, build your coping skills

The techniques you learn to handle problems more effectively at work can be used in your personal life and vice versa.

The American Psychological Association makes a great series of pamphlets available online for the general public.  They cover a wide range of topics, including coping skills, grief, etc.

Advice on becoming happier or more productive and self-help guru’s books are everywhere.  The real challenge for most of us is to actually try something new, to make it a habit to challenge our own thought processes, and to face our fears full-on.

Developing resilience is neither easy nor hard. But it does pay high dividends at work and at home if you do so before your next challenge hits.

What resiliency tips are you willing to share? We’d love your ideas to help us all.

Want to keep reading? Here’s Patricia Frame’s first post in this series.

Image: Library of Congress via its Flickrstream

Guest contributor Patricia A. Frame is an experienced management consultant, speaker, and executive with expertise in human capital. Launching a new Women Grow Business series on human resources for small business, Patricia is founder of Strategies for Human Resources. She helps small to mid-size organizations achieve their goals through more effective human capital strategy and management. She can be reached through her website SHRinsight.com, where archives for her ongoing management series can be found.

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Want help saving for your future?  Need some free and inexpensive ideas to help your employees?

America Saves Week 2010 starts next week, on Feb. 21st.  And the supporting organization offers ideas for both individuals and companies.

Which should remind you of my last column on your future plans and retirement.

Have you talked to yourself?  Put some ideas down in text?  Talked to your advisors?

I am doing some board development work with the non-profit Community Lodgings – a great group in Alexandria, Va. – which helps homeless families transition into a more stable environment.

Many homeless families are not dumb people. They are folks who were one medical emergency, or one job loss away, from catastrophe and a bad thing happened to them. Community Lodgings helps them by providing financial literacy and job search skills and education as well as a place to live for up to two years.

We never think this could happen to us, do we?

Here at Women Grow Business we do our best to point you in the direction of excellent resources. But all the great resources won’t help if you don’t take the time.  It’s your future.

More from:

• The American Institute of CPA’s has a great site, which you should definitely check out
• Christopher Hill on financial planning over at Grow Smart Business
• Several resources from SmartMoney

Image: Wayne Vernon, Creative CommonsGuest contributor Patricia A. Frame is an experienced management consultant, speaker, and executive with expertise in human capital. Launching a new Women Grow Business series on human resources for small business, Patricia is founder of Strategies for Human Resources. She helps small to mid-size organizations achieve their goals through more effective human capital strategy and management. She can be reached through her website SHRinsight.com, where archives for her ongoing management series can be found.

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Editor’s note: This is the first in a three-part series by guest contributor Patrica Frame that looks at the many facets of resilience in women and how we can build our own capacity. This first part of the series takes a preliminary look at a critical capacity-building exercise that is the epitome of resilience – retirement planning.

Retire? That’s a discussion for others… isn’t it?

For years I talked to companies that did not see any reason to think about the changing nature of retirement. Anyone with relatives over 85 (the fastest growing demographic in the USA) caught on fast, though.

What happens when our life-spans are commonly passing 80 years but our work-lives are barely half that? And our systems are geared for early retirement with a few years of play, then simply disappearing?

The times, they are a-changin’

A century ago, we worked until we died or became disabled.  The Depression and WWII gave us Social Security and pensions. Starting in the 1970s, a “golden age” of retirement was supported by personal savings plus defined pension plans plus Social Security – at least for those in large companies or government.

Now we have folks fearing they will never be able to retire – while many losing their jobs in this recession are involuntarily doing so.

Our society, meanwhile, has done little to address our longer lifespan and the impact on work, life, health, or communities. If you’ve dealt with ill or isolated elders, you realize this.  And the current budget crunch at every level of government is hitting those services which do exist.

Personal capacity building

Have you actually thought much about retirement? Do you, like many, intend to get around to thinking about it … sometime? Do you love your work so that you fool yourself into believing that you will never retire?  That your circumstances will never change?

Retirement has both financial and personal aspects. Many of us don’t plan for either.

Most importantly, do some personal ‘what-if’ planning

Studies show that women are still more likely than men to be care-givers. And this may mean that you will, as I have, end up caring for several older relatives in their last years. Dealing with the medical, emotional, and physical issues is not easy. All these and others related to aging family take far more time and energy than you expect–even if you could afford good help.

And it hits your business directly, often disastrously.

Many married women find that they retire before they plan to, due to the needs of a spouse.  The most common predictor of early retirement for men is job loss or illness. For married women? The disability or illness of their husband.

Retirement as a business owner

Retirement and disability issues are all the more difficult if you are a business owner. Whether you stockpile larger emergency funds, buy key-man insurance, or take other steps; you need to discuss what might happen with your family, your partners, and other advisors – and plan!

For those of us fully invested in our work, planning the personal side is even harder than the financial.  Yet it is critical too.  Think of all you gain from your work.  How will you replace those positives – respect, recognition, creativity, whatever – when you retire?

If you plan to work forever, what will you do if you cannot?

Got employees?

Offering simple retirement options will be attractive in hiring and retaining staff. Your benefits broker can show you a wide range of retirement savings options and employee assistance programs to support the emotional or care-giving aspects.

But you also need to think about what you plan to do when a valued employee suddenly is confronting elder care issues or an ill spouse. You may not have to comply with specific laws, if you are small enough, but you will find it hard to decide what you should do in the heat of the moment.

Do It Now!

Put a little time on your calendar in the next 2 weeks and think about the retirement related issues you face personally and in your business.  List the advisors you have who can help.  Get this on your planning horizon now and make your life easier tomorrow.

Or you too can be the woman I know whose newly retired husband actually alphabetized everything in the kitchen and told her how she should do the house cleaning more efficiently…

… while she coped with his mother’s dementia.

More resources:

• Check out your potential life-span and MIT’s AgeLab (tech heaven?)
• The Retirement Game via the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College
• Thursday Bram on how to include retirement in your business planning

Image: oOoHEAVENLY PHOTOGRAPHYoOo AWAYS CAPTURED AS SEEN‘s Flickrstream, Creative Commons

Guest contributor Patricia A. Frame is an experienced management consultant, speaker, and executive with expertise in human capital. Launching a new Women Grow Business series on human resources for small business, Patricia is founder of Strategies for Human Resources. She helps small to mid-size organizations achieve their goals through more effective human capital strategy and management. She can be reached through her website SHRinsight.com, where archives for her ongoing management series can be found.

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