Women Grow Business

All those wonderful conferences!

How do you decide where to invest your time and money? How do you assess the value of a specific conference?

Image: GrowSmartBiz Small Business Conference Sept 29 2009, courtesy the social media team at www.networksolutions.com and growsmartbusiness.com.

Whether you are planning for a new fiscal year right now or just trying to decide whether to attend a specific event, conferences can be a real value for your business success – or a big waste of time and $$.

Here, in Letterman style (i.e. backwards) are three tips to help you make that decision.

Tip 3: Grow your Knowledge and Connections.

How do you keep up with the changes in your field, your market, your business?  Do you learn best by reading, by talking with others, by listening, or through experiential methods?

Conferences and conventions are great for those who learn best by listening and talking shop or participating in a more active setting. But you still have to be sure that the way the program is laid out works with your style… and that the topics covered are those you value.

In my field, the laws change constantly.

With enough caffeine, I can read laws online.

But the most effective method for me is an annual legal conference on what the new laws mean for businesses, with recommendations. So that is one area I plan for each year.

In some fields, there are conferences where you MUST be seen to be considered a real player. In most fields, networking at conferences is very useful.

Don’t be like me – I get shy at such events and just talk to the folks near me.

Map out your strategy – do you know others who will attend with whom you can deepen your connection? Are there people you know you want to meet? Companies you want to discover more about? Speakers you would like to talk to?  Plan your networking – and work your plan.

Tip 2: Plan and Pick!

You do not want to waste time or money. So tie your conferences to your business plan/goals.

Think about all those you could attend and evaluate each in relation to:

• your short- and long-term business goals
• what you need or want to learn
• staying visible in your field
• becoming or staying visible to potential clients
• growing professionally; growing your business
• what you can afford to invest over a full year
• which provide the most for your money

And, remember that this same exercise applies to those you send staff members to. What is in it for your company, as well as for the person?

Before you decide to attend any specific event, make a list of your goals for attending. Define how success will look in achieving those goals. Then review the conference program carefully.

Can you achieve your goals? Will you? How?

Tip 1.  Embrace options.

Perhaps in your industry, there is one “main event” that you feel you must attend.  But are you really getting value out of it?  Could you skip it this year? Or send someone else?

Check out conferences before you sign up (two local conferences I think are valuable are the 2010 Women Entrepreneurs’ Expo in October and the 2010 GrowSmartBiz Conference, jointly hosted by Network Solutions and the Washington Business Journal).

Ask people you know what they felt the true value was. Ask for recommendations from your networks for conferences on topics which specifically meet your business needs – bet there are some you have never heard of that are really relevant!

And leave some space in your budget for choices during the year. New conferences may come along. Ones you ignored in the past may become more relevant with their choice of topics or speakers.

I could attend conferences all year around

that just look fascinating or are directly relevant to my work – and we won’t even discus those that are peripherally related but in a great location.

Fortunately or unfortunately, my budget is not quite so expansive that all which seem interesting – or even 10% of them – are going to make it into the plan .

So each year I have to look at all my options and re-think what makes sense for this year. What fits with my business goals for the coming year?

And then suddenly an event will show up – and here I am wondering again, how does that fit in? Is it worthwhile?

Do I just want to go or will it really enhance my future?

More:

• Patricia on Entrepreneurs and 2010: how to grow your development plan
• Marissa Levin on how to network with a purpose
• How to measure the ROI of a conference from Katie Paine

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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Once upon a boot camp

the young entrepreneur with the growing company and the old advisor with many entrepreneurs as clients came together to talk about building a business successfully.

Image: (CC) Shashi Bellamkonda

Here’s what you can learn from their mistakes.

Blunder #1: Being too cheap in the early stages

Whether you are an individual or run a company, you need expert advice early to set your business up successfully. A small amount of guidance can save you time and help avoid major problems later.

Talk to a CPA, an attorney, your local economic development agency, check out the SBA, and even experts specific to your business, and learn the basics.

Don’t wait until the government is after you or you are facing your first lawsuit.

Being a business owner can be downright scary.  Spend a little upfront to reduce your risks – and raise your comfort level.

Blunder #2: Not learning all you can about marketing, branding, and selling

Selling scares a lot of us. Marketing sounds so expensive and confusing. And branding seems a little too hyped to be real.

Yet every solopreneur and entrepreneur needs to know how to use each of these effectively for their own work and success.

Fortunately, the resources to learn about these aspects of promoting your business effectively are easily available. Start with some self-education. There are a lot of great tools online and even at your local library.

Once you have a basic understanding, decide what is most likely to work well for you.

Define your needs and goals. Create a plan. Develop your materials. Hire those services you need for support.

Blunder #3: Not networking

Each of them told their friends about their new businesses. But that is not enough! You need to be actively engaging your network.

Take all that you learned in marketing and branding above and start actually talking to people about your brand and your new ideas. Ask for their ideas and suggestions. As you build, you can also ask for specific contacts and then referrals.

Get out there to relevant professional meetings and events.

Ask questions.

Make connections.

Go to local business events where your target clients are likely to be and do the same.

Learn about social media and how to use it effectively. This is a great way to build and maintain your networks while also enhancing your marketing. Develop a plan so it doesn’t become a time sink, though.

Blunder #4: Not knowing your full value

One realized

her clients were frequently surprised at her business acumen – somehow they expect her to only know one type of thing.  And so she realized she was not effectively conveying her full value to potential clients.

The other’s staff recognized before she did

what a great evangelist she was and how responsive potential clients were to her ideas.

It is vital that you figure out what makes you different and what added value you offer.

Talk with friends, past mentors, and others who know you well. Ask them for the 5-6 words that describe you and see which you can weave into your branding. Research what your potential clients are seeking.

Better yet, tap into your strengths and present them as solutions to issues clients face.

Blunder #5: Not learning from your mistakes

All business owners make mistakes. We’re only human, even if we have to pretend to be superhuman.

We mess things up and sometimes it takes us awhile to admit that we did. Many businesses continue to make the same mistakes instead of being open to realizing them and changing their ways.

Be a business owner who can see through pride, worry, excitement and exhaustion and see what needs to be fixed, where things could be better and how you could improve.

Be proactive. The more you learn about yourself and your business, the better chance you have to succeed.

These five tips are only the top of our list of unforced errors

… but they are among the most dangerous to your future success – and the most common!

If you are starting out, you can avoid them. If you are just going along or rebuilding your business, take 30 minutes a day for the next six weeks and start tackling them.

Lots of links to help you with whatever you’ve been needing. We’d love your comments and ideas!

• Resources for entrepreneurs
• Taxes and benefits guidance for small business and self-employed
• “How to” guides – a long list of topics and guides
• More resources for applications and services
• Going Green: The small business greening guide
• Government information, resources, and law links for entrepreneurs:

Common Free Resources

• Google Apps – email through your domain, calendars, documents
• Google Voice – can forward to multiple phones & text/email you the written message
• Mint.com – keep track of all your finances in once place
• QuickBooks Online – allow access from anywhere to anyone in your company
• TeamViewer.com – free screen-sharing software (downloadable or thru browser)
• Aviary.com – stripped down design programs with ability to access from multiple locations
• DropBox.com – online files storage syncs with multiple computers

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.

Melanie Spring is the principal and project director at Sisarina Inc.. An expert networker, Melanie and Sisarina connect individuals and companies with the tools they need to market and promote their brand successfully and efficiently. Connect with her on Twitter where she’s @sisarina.

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The economy is going up – except when it is going down.

Are we in for another recession, a depression, or a boom? My investments, yours, everyone’s retirement savings are bouncing around like a fox with rabies and too often are about as attractive.

But today came

and you need to make a living, rebuild your business, and grow.

But today came

and you were fearful. The economy is frightening and the news too often bad.

And you are swamped with so many “to do” things.

The things you know you need to get done. Those you keep meaning to do.  And all the plans and goals you say you must define.

If you could find the top of your desk or the bottom of your email inbox, you’d be delighted – for a day, maybe.

If clients are too demanding

you feel pressured by all those expectations and wonder if you can sustain the demands and grow.

If you do not have too many demanding clients

you feel pressured by the need to find more work.

You probably cannot, single-handedly, solve our economic difficulties. But you can move yourself forward. Need a reminder, try this ode to entrepreneurs.

Do you know that there are studies which show that connecting to others, even electronically, raises levels of a brain chemical involved in feeling good?

Just think

A nice cold lemonade with a business colleague could make both of you feel better! And if you used it to do some brainstorming about your business issues, so much the better.

A series of notes to your connections to learn more about a potential opportunity – and you are feeling better able to cope.

I sent my last WGB post, Why Not Me?, out to a group of women who had inspired a part of it. Several sent me notes back about actually doing some of what I recommended, and two even included their new signatures.

Wow, did I feel good.

Does that mean a new client tomorrow? Probably not. But it did get me back out in front of people who can help grow my business.  And boosted my strength for other steps forward.

Right now a lot of folks are feeling scared or wonder whether they can sustain their business dreams and goals. Managers are hunkering down instead of inspiring and leading people.

And I am remembering a Wadsworth poem from my childhood:

“ Tell me not in mournful numbers
Life is but a dreary dream…”

It is from “A Psalm of Life” and very 19th century but also pretty real.

Whether you end the day by planning for the next

or start the new day with 10 minutes to organize and plan, a small effort each day becomes a big goal achieved.

Give yourself 10 – 15 minutes each day to move forward on one small step to a larger goal and see for yourself.

Need help? Bet you know someone else who does also and you can become peer coaches.

Or

you can hire a coach.

Or

an expert in a field you need to learn.

Or

undertake some online research to create your next step.

Buy someone you admire lunch and get a little mentoring on how they did whatever you admire them for.

Or if you need a good swift kick, go read “The Worst Hard Time” by Timothy Evans. Wow, and I thought I had had some bad times to overcome.

You can create the future you want. And help the economy we all are a part of too.

Are you in?

More from Women Grow Business:

• Guest contributor Terry Neese discusses Peace through Business: changing the world, one woman at a time
• Patricia on personal capacity building

Image: Julie Jordan Scott, Creative Commons

Patricia A. Frame is an experienced management consultant, speaker, and executive with expertise in human capital, and 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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Sound familiar?

My friend needed the exact service I offer, but went with someone else…. why not me?

Been in this group for years but not finding it useful a referral source … why not me?

I help a lot of people but don’t get much help… why not me?

Before you have another ‘why not me’ moment

here are some simple tips to change the dialog. (Image: Cynthia A. Bartha, Creative Commons)

Email

Does every email you send have some sort of tagline that reminds people of who you are and what you do? Does your signature make it easy to check you out and to connect with you?

Signatures  are generally simple to set up on email. Yet I belong to a consultants group where maybe a third of the women on the fairly active list have a signature block. Fewer still have a tag line saying what they love to do.

This group is not unusual. A lot of the email I see has no signature block. You do not need a long one or graphics/logos or something that takes 5 minutes to load.

But a good, clear tag line and some relevant information gives your readers a reason to notice, to connect, and maybe even to learn enough to work with you in the future.

Me – I need to go improve my own. What do you need to do?

Social Media

Whatever your preferred platform, how effective is your presence?

I use LinkedIn and have for years but am still need to be more effective. My old presence triggered recruiters to contact me about regular HR jobs and, as I tweaked it, about leads for various business positions. Now I get too many pro bono work requests.

Future-focus your information for the business you want to attract.

Demonstrate your relevant background, expertise, relevant skills, (whatever!) in the language and ideas. Clearly communicate your current business value.  Show me why I should contact you. And any social media needs to be kept current.

For years I have told clients how bad their websites are.

CEOs are always surprised a human resources advisor knows…

until I show them the impact on the top quality talent they say they want to hire and the business they want to attract.

What does your blog, LI or FB page – every tool you use – really say about your goals? Does it support your mission and create a professional impression?  Is it current? Well-written? Attractive? Properly targeted?

Connecting

Are you making real connections or are you just playing networking numbers?

Do you really think in terms of steady long-term relationships?

Most of us get to know a lot of people over time. Years ago

I was at a community event and a man I worked with at times walked by. Startled by my saying “hi,” he stopped and finally said, “Gee, I didn’t recognize you with clothes on.”  Well, of course, he had only seen me in uniform.

We both laughed, although it took his wife a few more moments to join in.

How many of your online connections would not recognize you if you just sent them an email directly or saw them at an event?

“Why not me?” Because those people have no reason to help you.

Think of your network in terms of what you can do for each individual in it. Make it about providing help and ideas. I don’t mean you waste business time helping folks who are not likely to ever reciprocate.

But choose to make your connections into human connections, not just a “network.” If you offer to do something, do it. If you can go out for coffee, do so. If you can take the relationship to a deeper level, do that.

Help them and help them help you.

The bottom line

You have 24 hours each day you live. You choose how to spend each minute.

And nothing I have suggested takes a lot of time. But each tip above can be worth your investment.

What could you do today, and each day, in just 5-10 minutes, to change “Why not me?” into a chorus of folks saying:

“I know just the person.”

More from:

• Marissa Levin on how to network with a purpose
• Shannon Mouton on 7 ways to max out your conference attendance
• Thursday Bram asks if networking on behalf of others is “ok or no way?”

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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Are your shoes made for walking?

May 23 – 29 is National Small Business Week.  There are events all over the country sponsored by the Small Business Administration and state or local agencies to celebrate the contributions of small businesses and to help such businesses grow and succeed.

This is a great opportunity to enhance your knowledge and build your network. Or to help you re-energize after a tough winter.

It is also a fine time to remind your clients or customers of what you offer and give them another reminder of why they buy from you!

Take a few moments to figure:

How can you use the week effectively to enhance your marketing?

What could you say or offer to bring in some referrals or repeat business?  New business?

How many contacts have you “been meaning” to send a note or add to your social media marketing efforts, and how could you target them this week effectively?

What could you do with 15 minutes a day of concentrated effort this week that would upgrade your game?

If you are in Metro DC, check out the National Small Business Week 2010 Conference, May 23-25.

Wherever you are, these resources are likely to be useful:

• Regional events/celebrations during the week
• An online conference for women May 26th
• The IRS list of seminars and events for small business owners (and yes, it covers more than IRS events and taxes)

Carpe Diem!

More:

• Patricia’s recent “tale of business infrastructure“
• Jen Consalvo’s pre-launch checklist for your small business
• Katie Kemple on defining your corporate culture

Image: uggboy‘s Flickrstream, 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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Once Upon A Time…

The new Executive Director realized she had some HR problems (which is how I came in).

But neither she nor her Board Chair had any ideas of the extent of the mess. For the first time, I could find nothing to retain in their management effectiveness review.

The problems that underlie the “people management” ones extend to most of their other critical infrastructure.

Worse, they are creating a significant portion of their financial difficulties.

WIIFM?

You have a focus, maybe even a passion, about your work.  And you get through all the things you need to do -  to get back to the parts you love.

But too often we put off investing in the support we need to succeed.

Maybe you have put off upgrading software or hiring services or adding people to save money.  Perhaps, like many entrepreneurs, you have hired someone on the cheap or for two different types of work and not had the results you sought.

Or, like another client, built a business plan that did not take into account some basic laws and thus had no possibility of success.

Infrastructure done well supports your business goals.

I know of a book author who needed to get a lot of exposure quickly to sell her book and thought speaking engagements would help.

But in weeks of working on finding such options, she was getting little traction.   She finally bought some marketing advice.  That led to her hiring a virtual assistant who did all the research on upcoming women-related events and got them her marketing materials.

Within two weeks, she had 20 speaking engagements set up for regional and national events in the next six months!

Buying the marketing advice and using a virtual assistant, her book took off.  And she got a great start in her second career.

Take a look at your infrastructure.  Is it really effective for what you need?

Do you have the systems and processes that make normal work easier?  If you are the “face” of your business, are you out in the right venues to build your business?  Or are you too busy doing other tasks instead?

How much work are you doing just to cope, rather than to be fully productive?  How much time does that take away from your income-producing work?

From items as simple as regularly backing up your PCs to buying advice, many of us skip that investment until we are “burned” and lose time or business when we least can afford to do so.

You certainly do not need the infrastructure of a large operation.

Yet many entrepreneurs grab programs and policies from past employers or other sources.

I regularly see the problems this creates as they are not tailored to what is needed.  My non-profit client above has a salary structure based on government, which built in costs they cannot sustain.  Their past management grabbed it without understanding the impact.

Now, we have to try to ameliorate its worst effects and create an effective process tailored to their market and needs without losing valuable employees.

Tick tock, tick tock…

If I have made you think, great!  I hate it when I’m called in because a lawsuit or a government audit has put the future of the organization in jeopardy.  And too often,  I learn the problem originated from trying to save money on expertise or systems.

Not sure what you really need and can afford?

Look at the things you are doing that you don’t enjoy or are not expert in.  Plus whatever you should be doing but have not.

What would make you more successful?

Make a list. It may look overwhelming at first.  Don’t give up!  Start with some priorities.  Then see what assistance and information are available from the SBA, SCORE and your local Small Business Development Center.  Check out your professional association’s offerings.  Ask colleagues and competitors what their most effective resources and practices are.

Take your business to the next level of success!

More from:

• Mayra Ruiz-McPherson on taking it to the next level
• Information for entrepreneurs
• Using a virtual assistant

Image: Kjirstin Bentson, 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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Now that your taxes are done (I hope!), are you cleaning up the rest of your clutter?

OK, maybe you don’t react to the first signs of spring with a ‘wow, let’s get rid of the clutter and mess’ moment.  Not my first thought certainly.  Mine runs to the beauty: trees turning every shade of green, flowers poking up, and the rainbow which flowering trees and shrubs add.

But clearing out the clutter is well worth a bit of your time and effort.  It helps you focus on what is really important and reduces distraction and depression.

At work, spring cleaning can be a great way to re-focus on what is important.

Whether you do a marathon clean one day or 30 minutes each morning for two weeks, you can enhance your effectiveness and productivity.

I just got rid of three boxes of 1990s paper files –the client sold his company in 2002.  And a fast review of those piles around my desk resulted in more things going into the recycle bin than the action box.

My vice is paper – books, articles, research papers, clippings. Yours may be all the stuff you get at trade shows, business cards from meeting, publications you mean to read, or the business development ideas you have stuffed everywhere.

Clean it all out! Either take action or make it go away.

Most offices have duplicate copies of files, business records, and client information.  Get rid of them.  Then treat yourself to a small reward.

Or, if you have staff, you can make it a game.  Offer a prize for the most paper put into recycle boxes.

Sure, you need to have some guidelines so that you do not lose valuable information, but simple ones will suffice.  And everyone will have an easier time finding what they need, storing the stuff that they currently are piling up, and getting on to important achievements.

Do you have unused equipment, furniture,  or supplies?  Donate it to a local non-profit for a tax deduction.  Electronics you no longer use?  Goodwill takes them as do many other vital community organizations.  More stuff than you realized?  Have a sale.

Free your space, free your mind, and feed your community all at once.

Don’t forget your computer – how many old files do you have? Or unused versions of software?  Delete and remove.  Organize master client files on a back-up so you too can throw out those old file boxes.  And clean up everything you must retain.

To make a real impact at work, clean out your old policies and practices.  Update your networking.  Review how you work.  What are you doing mindlessly or “just because” ?

Too many of us have practices which are not actually needed or no longer relevant. Yet they clog up the works and divert attention from more important issues.

Make time to look at each aspect of your business – what can you stop doing? (Ask your staff for ideas too.)

Can you feel yourself growing lighter?  Your business getting faster?  Do you reach for something and find it immediately now?

The rewards for a good spring cleaning once were reductions in illnesses and discomfort at home. You can still achieve some of those at home and at work.

More importantly, a little time on spring cleaning at work can free your mind and your workspace.  It helps you get back to doing the work that you love and to growing your business meaningfully.

So grab your recycle bin, pull out the dusting gloves, line up your donations, and fill up those trash cans… and I’ll buy coffee for the one who cleans out the most!

More from:

• A great read from the Wall Street Journal: 800 pounds of clutter
• For easy recycling of even small stuff, check out Freecycle
• 3 steps to a permanently clear desk from Zen Habits

Image: Diego Sevilla Ruiz, 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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Money Money Money

Have the economic problems of the past few years made you more conscious of your finances?  Or is it just time to get yourself smarter?  Do you need ideas to educate your family?  Or your employees?  There are a lot of great resources available.

Money Smart Week is April 17th – 24th this year.

Start with the federal government – almost anything you might want to know has been written about.  Start with this great overview and lots of resources from mymoney.gov.

Here are some of my other favorites:

• All the Federal Reserve Banks have great info.  Start with Building Wealth, which has booklets, videos and games
• Or look at an overview of all Federal Reserve educational materials. What a treasure trove.

Investing scares a lot of us.

For information on how to do what effectively, not to mention how to avoid being scammed, you can’t go wrong with information from the SEC.

Wondering if you or your business might qualify for some government benefits?  Check out govbenefits.gov and even more great resources on business finances and taxes.

What about non-governmental resources?

There are a lot of reputable private organizations which provide good financial information.  If you have investments, start by taking a look at what your broker or retirement plan provider offers.  Here are some others:

• The Financial Planning Association offers a lot of information for consumers
• Choose to Save is designed to help prepare for retirement
• More information on 401(k)/403(b) issues for individuals and employers

While I hope these resources help you, we both know that the hardest part is to make the time to educate yourself and then implement.

You can do it. The question is, will you?

More from:

• Patricia’s exclusive Women Grow Business three-part series on capacity building
• The new Rand Center for Financial Literacy
• Thursday Bram’s interview with the Taxgirl at Grow Smart Business

Image: Lis Ferla, 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 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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Are you of “a certain age” yet?

Have you heard that Sixty is the new Forty? And Seventy the new Fifty? Sounds appealing until you fully realize the implications.

Although women are more engaged and successful than ever (remember today’s International Women’s Day), the woman in the mirror might not have much to say about the fact that her image is likely to disappear right before her eyes – just as she’s reaching the pinnacle of her career.

In a “visual culture” like ours, where youth and beauty are often valued more than experience and “foundation,” many women find that they eventually cease to exist.

A notable observation by Australian researcher and psychologist Dr. Lauren Rosewarne refers to the fact that society renders women of “a certain age” invisible and unattractive, i.e. synonymous with a failure to contribute meaningfully to society.

Short of throwing in the towel just after you celebrate your 40th or 50th birthday, what steps can you take to stay relevant, visible and empowered in your career and in your business?

Chef/author Mollie Katzen has managed to buck the trend, primarily because she is in a field where, she says, “women are not only allowed to age but where age is seen as an enhancement to credibility.” Think Julia Child, Alice Waters, Marcella Hazen, etc.

This on Mollie from her website:

Mollie Katzen, with over 6 million books in print, is listed by the New York Times as one of the best-selling cookbook authors of all time. A 2007 inductee into the prestigious James Beard Cookbook Hall of Fame, and largely credited with moving healthful vegetarian food from the “fringe” to the center of the American dinner plate, Ms. Katzen has been named by Health Magazine as one of “The Five Women Who Changed the Way We Eat.” An award-winning illustrator and designer as well as best-selling cookbook author and popular public speaker, Mollie Katzen is best known as the creator of the groundbreaking classics Moosewood Cookbook, and The Enchanted Broccoli Forest.

However, it’s not just a matter of the field you choose; it’s also important to devise a strategy that ensures that you continue to matter.

Stay centered in your “standard.”

Mollie attributes her longevity to a commitment to “serving others,” i.e. anticipating what people need and then providing that.

“I see myself as reaching out and picturing my audience in their own kitchens, on their own budgets trying to balance work, family and home. I think and wonder a lot about my readers  [think: customer]; it’s not about me, I just want to help.”

Don’t drink the Kool-Aid.

Buck societal aversion to age by avoiding dogma and overcoming prejudice. Continue to evolve your business in new ways that positions you for longevity.

For Mollie, what’s worked is embracing objectivity and tools that have allowed her to create recipes [think: services] that she believes benefit others.

In other words, cater to, anticipate and be inclusive of your customers’ tastes regularly.

Leverage your power to empower.

“Women age better in the food field than in other fields,” says Mollie.

Are you in a field where age is not as important? The more that women are able to embrace their age, play up their strengths and share their wisdom, the likelier it is that the universe of older women will be empowered and enabled.

Look in the mirror…often.

What do you see? “I was greatly helped by Gloria Steinem’s famous quote when told she didn’t look 40,” Mollie explains.

The quote: This is what 40 looks like. This, Steinem repeats every decade.

Dramatic social change takes time. To truly overcome ageism in the workplace, women need to overcome their own insecurities about age, support older, age-peer role models in authority roles and challenge dogma.

More from:

• The Economist on women in the workforce and “female power” and the Guardian on when women are too old to appear on TV
• A look at “the invisible older woman” in the media over at the British Psychological Society
• Regular contributor Patricia Frame’s recent post on personal capacity building
• A history of International Women’s Day

Graphic, Taiga, used within Dreamstime distribution rights purchased by Liz Scherer

Regular contributor Liz Scherer is a digital writer and consultant specializing in health/medicine/wellness. She produces Flashfree which brings her closer to her goal to engage, entertain and provide women in midlife with the tools to make informed decisions about their health. In addition to her blog, you can find Liz on Twitter or LinkedIn.

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