Women Grow Business

I’m not a soup kitchen kind of girl.

When people say, “I’m going to volunteer!” isn’t that the first thing you think of?  It is for me. And while I’m deeply moved by the enormous difficulties homeless people face, I just don’t see myself in latex gloves and a shower cap dishing out shepherd’s pie. It’s just not my thing. Noise, strangers, food. You get the idea.

And Habitat for Humanity?  Let’s just say I can’t be trusted with a nail gun.

Fortunately, there are as many ways to help others in your community as there are problems in the world, and everyone knows that problems aren’t in short supply.

Image: Walter Lim, Creative Commons

So what’s my thing?

I teach English through the Literacy Council of Montgomery County.  See, I was an English major back in the day, and to me there isn’t a greater instrument for world peace than the written word.

I have this crazy idea that if we all understand each other – not just in a shouty Sunday morning talk show kind of way – but with nuance, that we really can save the world.

Or, if you prefer, just save a couple of people in your neighborhood from the terror and isolation of not being able to read street signs or talk to the check out girl in the grocery store.

I have another thing, and that’s helping women who have breast cancer.

I’m a survivor myself, and it sucks as hard as you think it does.  I got lucky one day when I ran into the chair of the board of directors of the American Breast Cancer Foundation.

She said, “We need a marketing person on our board!”

I said, “Funny story – I had a mastectomy a week and half ago.  Where do I sign up?”

The American Breast Cancer Foundation does wonderful work providing screening, biopsies, and even assistance with chemotherapy drugs, for uninsured and underinsured women.

How have these things helped me in my business?

• I’ve made tons of new friends who have helped me expand my network
• I’ve had the opportunity to practice my skills
• I’ve been able to demonstrate my abilities (not just describe them) to people who might be in a position to hire or recommend me
• I’ve gotten to try things I might not otherwise pay attention to, like reading financial statements and interviewing executives
• I’ve become a better leader
• It feels really, really good

The last item can’t be overstated.

I’m an entrepreneur with a husband, a three year-old, and a whole team of people to manage.  Some days I think, “I should cancel English class today.  I just have too much to do.”  But when my students smile and say, “Thanks for teaching today!”  – let’s just say I get more than I give.

To get started, ask yourself: what are you really passionate about?

Maybe you love knitting.  You can make prayer shawls for cancer patients.

Love kids? Be a big brother or big sister.

Gardening? Organize a community garden, or sign up for the appropriate committee in your homeowners’ association.

There are a thousand things you can do.

What have I missed?  How has volunteering made you a better business person?

More from:

• Make the World a Better Place from WikiHow
• Patricia Frame’s three-part series on capacity building

Ann Bevans is a writer, graphic designer and web developer.  As principal of Ann Bevans Collective, she helps clients articulate messages that matter and create print and online marketing programs that communicate those messages with impact. Ann asks tough questions and doesn’t accept flimsy answers. She makes music and writes fiction. She does all her own stunts.  Connect with Ann at www.annbevans.com, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook.

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If there’s one thing we’ve learned about Women Grow Business, it’s that it’s a growing, warm and welcoming village.

In that, it “takes a village…” etc.

Image: Julie Falk, Creative Commons

This blog community, which is so wonderfully supported by Network Solutions, is amazing. Look at the women who volunteer their time to write for it. Look at the people who support and engage with us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Amplify. At our first #wgbiz Happy Hour, many of us got to meet IRL for the first time – and liked what we saw offline – and that was pulled together again, by volunteers.

And the first-ever Women Grow Business Boot Camp, sponsored by Network Solutions and Steptoe & Johnson LLP, which kicks off Saturday, could never have come to be without the support of the community.

From the speakers, to the volunteers, to the photography which is being donated by Aaron Thompson Photography (and possibly live-streaming, but I’ll tell you about that when it’s confirmed) … we’ve literally bootstrapped this sold-out boot camp (and we have a wait list to boot!) on the backs of our community.

To all of you – thank you so very, very much.

And to you, who’ve stumbled upon this blog for the first time (because I know you’re out there), why not join us?

The easiest way to get involved is to write for us on your experiences and learnings as a woman entrepreneur in a wide range of fields (check out the diverse categories we publish posts in) … and if you enjoy it, maybe you’ll join the ever-growing team of dynamic contributors to this village, er, blog. Interested? Please let me know!

After all, it really does take a village, doesn’t it?

More from Women Grow Business:

• A conversation with the “rock star boss,” Lynn Tilton
• Making the connection at and with WGB
• Regular contributor Tinu Abayomi-Paul on the limits of social networking surrogacy

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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Ever since this blog made its debut almost a year and a half ago, the one thing Jill, and then I, focused on, was building, and connecting to, our community.

We try to do this by giving you a range of topics to read about, but all focused on and for women entrepreneurs.

Because if we give you content that’s relevant to your life as a woman entrepreneur, we’re making a connection with you, no matter how ephemeral it might initially seem.

Making the Connection

From the connection point of view, May’s been a really interesting month for Women Grow Business. Well, every month’s a really interesting month for us, but this month has been particularly interesting, because:

• We held our second #wgbiz Twitterchat with Lori Saitz
• We had our first “IRL” happy hour (thank you, Network Solutions) where many of us met for the first time
• We announced the first-ever Women Grow Business Boot Camp (are you registered yet?)

I shouldn’t be, but continue to be amazed at how strong these connections are. Even though our Twitter chats are still very new, we get a great range of participants, not to mention learnings that you can apply in almost every field, regardless of your industry niche.

Consider these tweets from this month’s chat on customer appreciation:

Do read the entire trancript of the #wgbiz chat with Lori. There’s great stuff here that we can all apply in our businesses.

The #wgbiz happy hour was a long time coming. Don’t they say if it’s worth it, it’s worth waiting for?

That’s how I felt and hopefully others did as well. It was delightful to see some new Women Grow Business friends and supporters out for the first time (check out the photos, and that’s Faith Dow, Frank Gruber and Jen Consalvo that you see above), and I loved this note I got from someone new to us:

“I often feel very awkward at networking events, but tonight’s was fun and relaxed. I enjoyed it.”

How cool is that?! And Frank gets mad props for adding a touch of testosterone to our hen party.

As we gear up for June, I’m really looking forward to the Women Grow Business Boot Camp, sponsored by Network Solutions and Steptoe & Johnson LLP.

After connecting with each other online for so long, we’re finally going to have several #wgbiz contributors and supporters in the same room. I can’t even begin to imagine how high the energy will be.

Thank you for allowing us to connect with you. You are why we’re here.

Image © Shonali Burke, used with permission

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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It’s funny where life will take you.

If you’d told me, 10 years ago, that not only would I be living and working in the capital of a world superpower, I’d have giggled. If you’d told me, five years ago, how incredibly important social media would become to my life, I’d have raised my eyebrows. And if you’d told me, one year ago, that today I would be part of an incredibly vibrant community of women entrepreneurs and leaders, I’d have shaken my head in disbelief.

Amazing, isn’t it? Someone, pinch me.

As I step into Jill Foster’s editorial shoes at Women Grow Business, I’m extremely aware those are some big shoes to fill. Jill has done an incredible job building this community, populating it with women who have incredibly big spirits, overwhelming smarts and the generosity to share both, and garnering the accolades it so richly deserves.

And that’s what makes this community so exciting; not just the intelligence that buzzes through it, but the dialog it engenders.

The Power of Community

Women Grow Business is nothing without you – the women who have built it. And I know that together we’ll take it to higher and higher levels, talking and teaching and helping each other to grow and learn and succeed.

But really – it’s nothing without you.

So please do keep the great thoughts and ideas coming, so that we can build upon the foundation Jill set in place (and cheer her on as she lives her talk, something she’s taught us all to do).

Ladies, let’s crush (h/t Gary) 2010.

Image: nascarOsO, Creative Commons

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/Washington. She is frequently invited to speak on public relations and integrated communications-related topics, including measurement, effective integrated public relations, cause marketing, PR on a budget, and social media. Talk to her via her blog, Waxing UnLyrical, or Twitter.

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Recently at Women Grow Business I wrote about how the social media space is becoming much like a cocktail party. With lots of voices out there, it’s getting harder to woo your prospects.

I also posed the question, how can businesses be the distinctive voice that knocks their prospects off their feet?

This is an interesting question that will remain relevant for years to come. And it’s a topic heavily on the mind of Sandy Carter and her 2.0 framework (she just published her new book: The New Language of Marketing 2.0).

We recently engaged in a great podcast conversation on this very subject.

Want to listen in or even listen in the background while you work?

I recently had this opportunity to speak with Sandy who is IBM Corporation’s Vice President of SOA and Websphere Marketing, Strategy and Channels. To help drive IBM’s thought leadership in web 2.0, Sandy developed a breakthrough framework called ANGELS:

• Analyze and ensure strong market understanding
• Nail the relevant strategy and story
• Go to market plan
• Energize the channel and community
• Leads and revenue
• Scream!! Breaking through the noise
• Sandy talks about IBM’s winning strategy for “screaming” or breaking through the noise.

What are your thoughts?

More from:
Terri Holley and more community building breakthroughs at Women Grow Business.

Guest contributor Terri Holley writes our series “Community Building Breakthroughs and Social Media.” She is the owner of Creative Blog Solutions and a social media strategist, plus a certified life/business coach. A forward-thinker and relationship-centric gal, Terri supports small businesses who understand the value of using social technologies to build deeper relationships with prospects and customers.

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ROE – previously Return On Equity – has had no clear definition. For purposes of this post we will say ROE is Return On Engagement. Engagement is easily seen, almost tangible, certainly obvious to anyone paying attention. A good example of engagement is @RichardAtDell. What Richard does is answer queries, point people to helpful resources, guide them through self-help options and in general discusses what Dell’s customers want to discuss. But is it measurable? Today, no.

InvestorWords defines it like this: Return on Investment. A measure of a corporation’s profitability, equal to a fiscal year’s income divided by common stock and preferred stock equity plus long-term debt. ROI measures how effectively the firm uses its capital to generate profit; the higher the ROI, the better.

Clear returns and what’s trackable
Today, the corporate world is trying to justify social media campaigns the only way they know how, by using traditional models based on ROI. They are trying to put their new social media teams under the blanket of ROI and finding it lacking. There is no clear metric to measure the ROI in the engagement of a social media team. Buzz, while certainly trackable, isn’t bringing clear returns on investment. Not short term, and that’s all we have right now.

How do we find a clear indication of value, making ROE a profit bearing venture?

There are innumerable tools we’d like to think are good indicators. The problem is, you can take 3 different services all asserting themselves as the tool to calculate how well your social media campaign is doing, and you will get 3 very different responses.

Growth, traffic patterns, and no defined analysis
Hits on a blog might be indicative of ROI, but quantifying that is difficult. No two blogs offer the exact same things to the exact same audience. Certainly you can watch growth patterns, traffic patterns, and infer where there is growth, value is building. But that, too, is only one piece of a very large puzzle that we have no defined analysis to work with. There is still argument as to how possible it is to get an accurate picture without longterm studies, something we simply don’t have.

Going back to ROE, as I stated before, the corporate climate is still intent on finding a clear link between adding a social media team and ROI. While the engagement part is easy to see, the ROI of it is not.

Both small business, and women in small business are taking the old business model and molding a new one. They use personal communication. They’re ripe to show big corporations not only where the value lies, but that the real value, though not tangible by old measures, will win, and win big.

The old monetary vision of ROI is being replaced.
We are in the process of changing the dialogue, changing the value structure altogether.

Currency isn’t strictly about money anymore. Your currency today is the trust placed in you. If people trust you, they follow you. The more you are followed, the more likely you are to be heard, and so it goes.

Ultimately it doesn’t matter why it exists, ROE is where we need to direct our energy as we look to the future for our business plans. Keep an open mind, with social media there is no money back guarantee.

More from:

• Terri Holley asks “Do I really value people?” when using social media in business;
• Elaine Gantz Wright looks at taking ROI focus away from justification of hard costs and considers social media’s opportunity costs instead.

Guest contributor Sheryl Breuker is a longtime technology writer for publications like Realtime Publishers, as well as her shared blog at Stardust Global Ventures which also hosts her popular Incidental Interview series where Sheryl, aka The Gabby Geek, interviews authors, media, and tech leaders of today. Owner of Sheryl Breuker Media, she advises individuals, businesses and non-profit organizations around the world on digital media integration to reshape business culture, redesign work processes, and better engage with customers, partners and employees. Sheryl lives in Washington state, together with her partner, son and 2 cats.

Image Old Vault Door by Daniel Leininger, Creative Commons.

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This year has brought great impact and change to many of the blogger community here (and it’s the launch year of Women Grow Business to boot!). Many bloggers have shared recently what they’re most grateful for in their businesses in 2009.

The first few:

Liz Scherer, producer of Flashfree:

I’m thankful for a wonderful team of consultants who challenge, stimulate and create; an amazing local community that has allowed me to develop and grow; an evolving interest in women’s health that frequently provides fodder for my blogging efforts.

Thursday Bram, founder of Hyper Modern Consulting:

I’ve realized I can create successful projects beyond working for freelancing clients. And this year, my success in my business has allowed my husband and I to purchase a home. Also this year I was able to hire an assistant who’s happy to take on tasks that have gotten in the way of my writing, letting me get back to the work I love.

Shana Glickfield, producer of DC Concierge:

It’s been an incredible year meeting an amazing community of women entrepreneurs. I’ve started working with clients who understand the benefits (and pitfalls) of social media. I’m really grateful for the social technology that enables so much of these connections and my work.

Jen Nedeau, media consultant/director of digital strategy for AirAmerica Media:

This year I was thrilled to see AirAmerica received the most web traffic in its existence during the month of November 2009. A great organization I volunteer for, the New Leaders Council, doubled in size going from five to 11 chapters across the country. And this will end up training more than 200 young progressives this year on how to be better, more successful leaders. I’ve been editor at WomensRights.Change.Org which turns one year old this year and continues to drive discussion about the feminist movement.

What about your business? What benchmarks and successes are you grateful for?

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Being warm and safe
With the fall season in full swing, nearing winter – many of us think of the wonderful gifts that the season brings us: the beautiful changing foliage, the opportunity to wear our favorite sweaters & jackets, evenings with friends & family as we share warm meals and blazing fires. But for too many in our society, the changing season brings a sense of dread because of plunging temperatures, lack of substantive food to warm our bodies, and a warm, safe place to sleep.

Homelessness is happening everywhere we turn.
It is not somebody else’s problem. It is everyone’s problem. Regardless of where you live, it is highly likely that you have come across a homeless individual or homeless family. Perhaps you’ve simply walked right past them as you carry on a conversation on your cell phone. Or maybe you’ve rolled up your window as they pass by cars stopped at a city traffic light.

As entrepreneurs, we can do better.
As entrepreneurs – leaders who are driven by a need to improve the world around them – we have an obligation to do better.

Business owners have tremendous reach and influence. They have the ability to inspire others to take positive steps, and call others to action.

Did you know that children under 18 make up 27% of the homeless population?
Families with children are now among the fastest growing group of the homeless population. They account for about 40% of the people who become homeless each year. 38% of the people already homeless are families with children. And 50% of America’s homeless of women and children are running from domestic abuse.

Homeless veterans
Did you know that of all of the homeless men, 40% of them have served in the armed forces? Compare that the the total adult male population, in which only 34% of the population has served in the armed forces. 19% of the urban homeless population are veterans. Think about that next time you roll up your window when someone walks by your car asking for help at a city light.

Homelessness among families upsets nearly every part of the family’s life. It disrupts children’s education and development. It affects the emotional and physical health of the family. It often forces family members to separate because of gender or age. Families with children constitute 20% of the homeless. Of those families who become homeless, 40% are families with children. That makes them the fastest growing segment of the homeless population.

So now I’ve pulled at your heartstrings, and you are saying, “Wow, that hits home a lot closer than I ever thought it did. Marissa, what can I do?” Well, I am glad you asked.

As a business owner, you can align with one of the many homeless shelters in your region to become a corporate donor.

We happen to support Reston Interfaith because our office is located in Reston, VA. We participate in coat drives and Thanksgiving drives every year. Like all homeless and transitional shelters, Reston Interfaith is in desperate need of food for its pantry. Donations are down significantly at all shelters, while the need for their services continues to escalate.

As a business owner
You can support Reston Interfaith’s need for food to fill Thanksgiving baskets so that needy families can have an enjoyable, food-filled Thanksgiving…something many of us take for granted. Reston Interfaith posts the information for the Thanksgiving baskets and the coat drive on their website, if you would like more information.

There are shelters all across the country
Just like Reston Interfaith, they need your help. If you have not visited a shelter, you should. For our older son’s birthday, in lieu of birthday presents for past birthday parties, he has collected donations to Reston Interfaith, and then has presented them to Kerrie Wilson, Reston Interfaith’s CEO. (Kerrie is a fellow SmartCEO BRAVA Award Winner, and has worked tirelessly to ensure that Reston Interfaith’s families get the support they need to regain self-efficacy and self-sufficiency).

Lessons in embarrassment, community, my son, and compassion
Through this experience, not only did my son gain the gift of a greater appreciation for his own life, he discovered the gift of compassion for children that are just like him…only living in a different environment. He donated the money he collected to purchase books and toys for these children.

One notable memory that has remained with him is that these children who live at the shelters board their school buses first in the morning, and exit the school buses last in the afternoon to avoid the embarrassment of living in a shelter.

So it is very possible that if you have children who attend school, they have school mates who live in a shelter, and your family would not even know about it.

There are so many ways a business owner can make a difference in the lives of others.

Toy drives, canned food drives, and clothing drives are just a few ways to make a difference. Supporting specific charities is another way. Donating products or services pro-bono is yet another way to give back.

Action plan for the next homeless person you meet or see
At the individual level, we can all take small steps to make a big impact. One thing I want to suggest to everyone is to go to Costco or another food warehouse and purchase a case of bottled water and perhaps some granola bars or another non-perishable item. Keep these in your car, on the floor behind your seat. The next time you are approached by a homeless person, or you see someone on the street, do not pretend you do not see them.

Give them a bottle of water and a couple of granola bars.
It very well be the only thing they have to eat and drink all day. In addition to giving them nourishment and sustenance, you will also give them something that is just as important… hope in humanity that we will take care of one another.

How are you and your organizations helping the local area?

How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the struggling, and tolerant of the weak. Because someday in life you will have been all of these. – George Washington Carver

More from:

• Mahalo and where to help the homeless in the Washington, DC region;
• Thrive DC on helping homeless women in the DC area;

Guest contributor Marissa Levin is Founder and CEO of Information Experts. Launching a new Women Grow Business series on sales strategy, Marissa was named a 2008 BRAVO Award winner by SmartCEO Magazine (which honors the region’s 25 most influential women CEOs) and recently was listed in Washington’s 100 Technology Titans by Washingtonian Magazine. Describing her true passion as “helping other business owners be successful with their own business growth”, Marissa can be reached through her blog Marissa Levin.

Image I Wanna Hold Your Hand by San Diego Shooter, Creative Commons

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My daughter is a tween who just started middle school. Every school day she wakes up to live in her world. Her essentials (and I mean essentials in every sense of the word):

• Clean pair of UGG® boots
• Fully charged iTouch
• Umbrella if it rains
• Cell phone for texting

I am a women in my mid-40’s and I run a small business.
I take care of a tween. Every weekday I wake up to live in my world with my non-essentials:

• UGGs: Are you kidding? They may be stylish but they are not going on my feet.
• Fully charged iTouch. I’ll take my chances. Not a big deal.
• Umbrella if it rains. When I manage to find one, it comes in handy. But I can live without it.
• Cell phone for texting. I have email! Definetely not an essential.

I have a list of essentials (coffee is one of them) but not to bore you with that list – and to quickly make my point – there is a serious disconnect here i.e. nothing in my daughter’s world really relates to mine.

Enter empathy (the perfect antidote for sustaining relationships)
Just as empathy can improve a parent/child relationship, it can also help companies communicate better with their prospects, customers, and constituents. In the book, Wired to Care, there are amazing stories of business transformation when organizations begin to see the world through their customer’s eyes.

More nimble than competitors
Companies that are able to create widespread empathy are more nimble when compared to their competitors. They have the propensity to take on risks or something new. And they have the gut-level certitude to stick with an idea that doesn’t take off right away.

I think the biggest gift empathy gives a company is the deep sense of trust that builds among the market they serve. Expressing empathy nurtures and sustains relationships. It builds loyalty, engagment and respect. All of these things are essential for building a community of enthusiasts around a brand, product, or service.

Exercising our empathetic muscles
In the book Wired to Care, author Dev Patnaik talks about how humans are hard-wired for empathy:

“Humans are a social, caring species. Our limbic brains are designed to make us curious about the feelings of other people and animals. This is what separates us from lower-order creatures. It allows us to communicate and collaborate with others. And it allows us to read between the lines to glean information that may not be explicity stated.”

Groups and loss of empathy
The book also describes how we quickly lose our ability to exercise empathy when we assimilate in groups. We begin to lose our intuition and don’t trust our gut-feeling as to what is going on in the world around us.

This point in particular brings back responses I’ve held toward my daughter and her daily essentials:

“Leave those UGG® boots in your closet. They’re hideous. I wouldn’t be caught dead with them on”.

“Forget about the iTouch today and read a book instead!”

“Can’t find your umbrella? It’s okay. It’s just water. You’ll live…”

“I lived 20 years without a cell phone and texting. One day without it isn’t going to harm you.”

Sounds like a pack of “moms raising tweens” to me. But hey, I am getting MUCH better. But this type of dialogue is a given when empathy is absent.

But you say you’re the “expert” (or as in my case, I adopt the non-empathetic, all-knowing parent that doesn’t truly empathize with the teenager’s environment).

I have found that empathy is often lost when we become the expert at something. The title “expert” is often associated with “I know what is best for you” or “let me talk and you just listen”.

I just wonder how much gets left at the table when we neglect to bringforth the intellectual capital of the other party.

Questions to you
So with your experience and Wired to Care in mind, how can you walk in your customer’s shoes to fully understand their needs?

What is one thing you can do today to exercise your empathetic muscles?

How will your customers recognize your empathy for them?

More from:

• Terri Holley and her community building series at Women Grow Business;
• Marissa Levin and how empathy plus imagination impact leadership;
• Adaptive Path on business empathy: 6 questions to connect experience to strategy;
• Community.Feministing explores if and how empathy is good for business;
• Mind Tools and 10 tips for cultivating empathy in communications.

Guest contributor Terri Holley writes our series “Community Building Breakthroughs and Social Media.” She is the owner of Creative Blog Solutions and a social media strategist, plus a certified life/business coach. A forward-thinker and relationship-centric gal, Terri supports small businesses who understand the value of using social technologies to build deeper relationships with prospects and customers.

Image I Care by Jannie T., Creative Commons.

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Entrepreneur Magazine has listed The Startup Princess as a top resource for women entrepreneurs. And she’s been voted by her home state as one of 30 Women to Watch.

She’s that cool.

Kelly King Anderson aka Fairy Godmother of helping business-owner dreams come true … founded Startup Princess a while ago to convene like-minded women entrepreneurs as she was getting a business idea off the ground. Yet so much success emerged from Startup Princess itself, that she committed to building that instead, putting aside the original idea that first motivated Startup Princess to launch.

I randomly turned around last week at the Blogworld Expo. When Kelly mentioned “Hi, I’m Startup Princess on Twitter” – I almost jumped out of my skin from glee. It was the first time to meet her face to face.

-and a pleasure to get her entrepreneur magic apart of the SmallBizCool series.

So from Blogworld’s floor, here’s Kelly for SmallBizCool!

More from:

• The full (and so cool) video series SmallBizCool at Women Grow Business;
• Michael Dougherty catches some great SmallBizCool conversation and meets up with Chris Brogan (oh the humor!) from Blogworld.

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