We’ve got a whole new web presence in the works, new content and new events—all designed to celebrate you, inform you, connect you and ensure that you have the tools you need to be the biggest success you can be in business.

There is nothing more beautiful than a woman who is proud of herself and happy about the life she has created and we know that your work as an entrepreneur is such an integral part of that—so we’re here to help you achieve your visionary dreams!

We have posted a very basic beta site at our new spot on the web. Check it out at www.msceo.net and let us know what you think. Leave your comments below, or on our new Facebook fan page. Also, follow us on Twitter to keep up with what’s next!

Storytelling is older than dirt. Family histories have been preserved by it and companies have been built with it. For business it’s often called “word-of-mouth” (WOM) and with social media in full effect its power has increased considerably.

Word-of-mouth a la social media is such a force that big bank rolled companies can’t even deny it’s influence. They can throw money at it—and have tried—but the authenticity factor trumps money so today everyone has to cull their story, treat customers well (hooray) and spread the good news via word of mouth. In some senses, this is grounds for entrepreneurs and small business owners to do the hallelujiah dance because we have great stories and the tools to tell them, even if we can’t yet afford a Super Bowl ad. But we have to know how to do that—and we have to do it consistently.

Are people talking about your brand like crazy yet? No worries! Today on The Ms. CEO Radio Show, we’re talking to Ted Wright, managing partner of Fizz Word of Mouth Marketing agency, to get the inside secrets that only a 15-year WOM marketing whiz like him could share.

Check out this cool WOM marketing metrics and best practices guidebook from the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, and listen to the show to get your story going!

Sometimes in business it’s the smallest things that we forget that could make the biggest difference in the long run. This short-and-to-the-point blog article calls this “the butterfly effect.”

Apply this concept to your company. Make sure in your business you are always spreading your wings, by spreading your message—even in the smallest ways.

There’s no blame game in effect but it is time for parity. Gender equality in leadership simply will make us stronger economically, politically, socially and communally. This is why it’s not a woman issue—it’s an American issue. Until women are fully integrated into leadership in each sector, alongside men, we will not have reached our fullest potential as a nation.

Read the report and prepare yourself to lead—or open the door for others to do so.

Perhaps proof of the need for more women in decision making roles—or with a comfortable seat at the table—are these six totally dumb (so dumb they’re hilarious) ad campaigns aimed at women.

The Johnson and Johnson o.b. tampon ad by far gets our top vote for the dumbest of them all.

For some well-financed companies like Burger King, it is apparently worth the financial risk and potential social faux paus of offending women to push the advertising envelope and cut through the clutter. Earlier this year, they approved an ad campaign for their “Super Seven Incher” hamburger, featuring the sandwich headed in the direction of a woman’s open mouth, with the headline: It’ll Blow Your Mind Away. (Really, Burger King?)

Edgy and offensive? Or, edgy and effective? Supporters of the strategy say effective—citing the fact that it has increased the chain’s sales among young men, the targeted demographic.

Think what you will of the Burger King ad, but more importantly be mindful that as entrepreneurs and small business owners we’ve got to break through the clutter creatively without burning through cash. If your marketing gets people’s attention and gets them talking—but doesn’t get them spending, you blew it.

Entrepreneurs start businesses for dozens of reasons. Lots of women have told me that they get started for flexibility, extra money, to pursue a passion and to have fun. Some of you have told me that you want to change the world. All those reasons are why I got started too.

I was sitting in church one Sunday and we had a guest pastor. All the way from Australia. His name was Dr. Peter. He talked about once being so illiterate that he could not even complete a job application to do construction work, though he had the physical brawn. He went on to discuss how he finally had to face his shortcomings and do something about them, which led him to start his own business.

Years later, he now has several successful multi-million dollar businesses with offices and employees on three continents. He spoke in absolute and confident terms and struck the congregation with his audacity and wit.

I was impacted by all that he said but a statement he made and a question he asked have stuck with me to this day. His statement was not the reason I resolved to develop into one of the world’s greatest entrepreneurs, but it was certainly an inspirational factor. He said, “Too many of you run around everyday talking about and thinking about how you can change the world but you can barely take care of your own finances. If you want to help someone and change the world create a business and give them a job.”

I thought for a moment (and then later, and nearly every day ever since) about his comment. Eureka! He was right!

Most people spend most of their time at work. Work is home away from home for many people. The lives of people who work, even part-time, are significantly shaped by their experiences on the job. That means that by starting a business and growing it to the point that you offer employment to others—whether part-time or full-time and whether they are employees or contractors—you are helping people; you are helping the world.

You could transform your community, city, state, nation or world by starting a business that provides people jobs, and therefore gives them a purpose everyday.

To build a business that takes care of you and your family and consistently employs others, you’ve got to create a systematic enterprise. One that has its own brand, practices, processes and structure. Business at this level means you are effectively using technology and have a good team of people working with you everyday. It probably also means you’re on the path to $1 million, or more, in annual revenues.

Now that may sound overwhelming and scary, but it’s not. Thousands of other women have done it. Plus, you can’t believe you have achieved what you have already achieved in life, right? How did you do that? One day at a time, with faith, perserverance, hard work and a bit of help from others, right? Well, that’s how you and your business can grow to $1 million, or more, in revenue and help change the world. And there is already a well-experienced organization (Count Me In) and group of other women who are striving to have fun, enjoy flexibility, make money, and make a big impact just like you.

You should enter the Make Mine a Million $ Business Competition. It’s always easier to run faster when someone is running alongside you (the other women in the competition) and coaching you along the way (the professional staff and coaches provided by the organization). You’ll enjoy the competition, you’ll enjoy your success and you may even win! But in my view, the competition is not just about that. It’s also about changing the world.

EXTRA
Check out five reasons you should be in this competition straight from the founder Nell Merlino’s blog.

Onward and Upward,
Felicia Joy

No matter what happens when you launch your idea; the response is simple: Figure out what is not going the way you want it to.  Figure out why.  Devise a new strategy and move forward.  The key is to see business as an adventure that you want to figure out as quickly as possible.

We’ve been on quite an adventure at Ms. CEO Media Inc. this year and we have learned SO much.  We are busy re-tooling based on what we now know and you will see the results of our new strategy soon.  We’re not perfect but we’re perfectly determined to help more women build businesses they love.  So stay tuned!

Follow us on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook to see what’s next!

Be Encouraged,
Felicia Joy

As the fastest growing segment of the small business economy, women are a major part of the world’s economic sustainability equation.  The numbers speak for themselves: There are 10.1 million firms owned by women entrepreneurs in America that employ 13 million people and generate nearly $2,000,000,000,000 (yes, trillion—I wanted you to see all those zeroes!) in sales each year.  That’s a lot of wealth, jobs, and economic activity.  But, most importantly, that’s a lot of hope for the future and promise for the community—why?  Because research shows that women entrepreneurs give to the community, special causes, and non-profit organizations at  very high levels as—and once—they reach personal economic stability.  So, the rising tide of a successful woman-owned business is one that raises many, many ships along with it.

Important work is being done to boost the success and value of today’s woman owned business enterprises; in addition, a few organizations—and great parents—are laying the foundation for tomorrow’s women entrepreneurs by fostering business-mindedness in young girls and teenagers.  We talked to two of these organizations on today’s show.  We also got a heart-warming note from a dad on this topic:

“I have a real estate investing business where I buy and hold single family homes and small apartment buildings.  I also have a seminar business where I train other professionals with demanding day jobs to do the same.

My oldest daughter is aged 14.  For the last two years I have been taking her on appointments to see houses and apartment buildings before I buy them, and on the appointments when I rent them.  She was every excited last November when I let her decide which house we would add as our next rental at that time.

She has gone through all of my seminar material and now wants to start her own rental real estate business while she’s in high school, which she started yesterday.”

-D. Fassett

Our guests on today’s show were:

• Nell Merlino, founder, president and CEO of Count Me In for Women’s Economic Independence, the leading national not-for-profit provider of resources for women to grow their micro businesses into million dollar enterprises.
• Rosana Santos, founder and CEO of Big Chef, a producer of health-conscious appetizers (and a woman whose business surpassed the million dollar mark after she joined the Make Mine a Million $ Business Initiative). 
• Kimberly Martinez, founder and CEO of Bonitas International, which produces “functional jewelry” for ID badges (and also a woman whose business surpassed the million dollar mark after she joined the Make Mine a Million $ Business Initiative).
• Marcia Brumit Kropf, COO of Girls, Inc., the non-profit dedicated to inspiring all girls to be strong, smart and bold.  Girls Inc. has partnered with Goldman Sachs to create a cool corporate entrepreneurship camp for teen girls.
•  Joline Godfrey, CEO of Independent Means, author of the book - Raising Financially Fit Kids, and the founder of Camp $tart Up and SummerStock; these are programs for teen girls that she has been running since 1992.

So, the Top 10 Takeaways from today’s guests on building your company to a million dollars or more in revenue, and encouraging the next generation of women entrepreneurs are:

1. Get friendly with your financials.  Building a major company is going to require knowing the numbers and the story they tell about the health of your business, and perhaps areas that need improvement.  Understand this, embrace this, learn the numbers—and see your business soar.
2. Learn to delegate.  As Nell Merlino said—and I totally love this, lol!—yes, you can have it all as long as you don’t do it all!  Get a great team, empower them to work, and focus your energy on what you do best, while your team does the same.  The result will be nothing less than magic—and a million dollar business if that’s what you’re striving for!
3. Multi-tasking is a thief.  That’s right, this idea of multi-tasking is a fallacy.  Our guests say there is new research out that proves that multi-tasking is a misnomer.  Your brain can only focus on one thing at a time, so when you think you are multi-tasking or taking care of multiple things at once, you’re not.  You’re actually switching from one thing to another, to another, to another in rapid-fire mode.  The result is a bunch of stuff done (if you in fact get it all done) with mediocrity.  This is a colossal waste of time and money.  Why not just do a few things with excellence—and for any one thing that you’re working on give it your fullest attention and complete awareness and attention in that moment?
4. Respond to changes in the business environment quickly instead of being oppressed by fear.  Rosana Santos’ company, Big Chef, used to be known for producing “luxury appetizers” but when the market dropped, most people’s interest in luxury products—food included—dropped too;  so her company switched to health-conscious appetizers—a real recipe for success since everyone is trying to lose or maintain weight.
5. Simple products can be super successful.  Kimberly Lopez saved women and men every where from “shoe string” ID badge holders by adding stylishness to the workplace with her line of “functional jewelry”.  Her company is now doing $2 million per year in business!
6. Connecting with others can connect the dots of your success.  Business ownership can seem lonely at first because you’re making major decisions and many of them alone.  But you’re not actually alone.  There are 10.1 million women business owners in America and thousands of them are in the Make Mine a Million $ Business Initiative.  Plugging in to various organizations and opportunities like this and subscribing to Ms. CEO Magazine can ensure that you get the connections, encouragement, contacts and insight you need to be a success.
7. Shape her young mind now.  Encourage young ladies to learn about personal finances because doing so will be tied to their future success as entrepreneurs, if they choose that path; and knowing about their finances and being able to manage them will make them a success no matter what vocation they pursue. 
8. Your actions are the best roadmap.  What you do in addition to what you say can encourage a young woman to believe in herself and the power of entrepreneurship.  Be aware of what your actions are communicating to her about entrepreneurship, finances and success—and make yourself a resource to answer her questions and model what her future could be.
9. Emulate success.  When thousands of people have all achieved the same feat—in this case, reaching a million per year in revenue—there are some common strategies and tactics.  Learn those.  Apply those; and enjoy the same accomplishment.
10. Do something different, or something more. Moms Mabley, a renown commediene born in the late 1800s who passed in 1975 said: If you always do what you’ve always done then you’ll always get what you always got; if you want something different, then you’ve got to do something different.  Enough said.

Be Encouraged!

• Wendy Beecham, CEO of the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs and Executives;
• Bob Pearson, 30-year senior level executive recruiter and principal of Pearson Partners International;
• Susan Colantuono, the CEO and Founder of Leading Women and its Women on Boards program, and author of the soon-to-be-released book, “No Ceiling, No Walls: What Women Haven’t Been Told about Leadership from Career Start to the Corporate Boardroom”; and
• Jacqui Brandwynne, President and CEO of the Brandwynne Corp, and a business strategy and marketing expert—and turnaround specialist—in the health, beauty and banking industries, among others.

Each of these guests shared a compelling perspective, and wise and knowledgable bit of substance regarding why more women are not on boards, the difference that it could make for women to be on boards, and how we should prepare and present ourselves to be selected for boards. I learned SO much!

We’ll have a feature article on this topic in the upcoming issue of Ms. CEO Magazine, so make sure you subscribe. Each of our guests stressed the importance of having a board bio and resume’ and in Ms. CEO Magazine we will feature the “anatomy” of this specialized kind of bio and resume’. This helpful information will be available to subscribers only!

(I must digress and tell you, as well, that we’ll be giving away free full page ads in Ms. CEO Magazine. Find out more here.)

Without further ado, here are the Top 10 Takeaways from today’s show:

1. It’s not just who you know; it’s who knows you, too. Our guests agreed that fully 80 percent or more of corporate board appointments, or even recommendations, come as a result of being known and referred by someone already on a board. Well, with the majority of boards being comprised of men, that means you have to network with everyone, men included, to be seen and remembered. (By the way, being remembered has a lot to do with your personal brand. Whether you’re a woman entrepreneur or intrapreneur—an intrapreneur builds business units aggressively within a company—you’ve got to have a memorable brand for just this reason. We’ll be talking about personal and company branding on the September 8th show, so tune in.)
2. Look really good…on paper. To be seriously considered for a board appointment you need to look good on paper and that means having an impressive “board bio and resume”. This is different from your run-of-the-mill bio and resume. It needs to stress operational, financial, and strategic successes you have led at the helm of your own company—or at the helm of a business unit within a company. The old sales rule applies to this one: Benefits not features. So, rather than listing the plum assignments you have, you want to stress and illustrate the plum results you’ve gotten as the leader of major projects or an upstart business that you built to the multi-million or multi-billion dollar level.
3. No interns, sorry. Corporate boards of all size companies want board directors with experience because ultimately the board’s job is to direct the company’s leadership in the best interest of shareholders. So you must be able to hold the CEO, CFO, COO and others accountable for having and executing a solid corporate strategy. To do this, you have to know your stuff (or as one of our guests more eloquently said, “have business acumen”). This basically boils down to board experience and recruiters or corporate boards will pass over you if you don’t have any.
4. Intern! Since corporate boards are adamant about appointing directors who have experience, go out and get some on a board as soon as possible. You can start with non-profit boards. And, as our final guest of the hour, Jacqui Brandwynne, who has been on many, many boards (of very large companies) pointed out, you should take every board assignment very seriously. Non-profits and for-profits. Manage the company as if it were your own. And not doing so can get you into REAL trouble, too. Real spelled S-U-E-D (by shareholders). So, board membership is a lot of responsibility and non-profit boards are a great place—with a lot of work—to learn all about it.
5. Work in the business of the business. Alot of factors commingle, apparently, and depress the number of women on boards, including the fact that women are often encouraged to pursue non-financial or non-operational positions and professions. Yet, these kinds of backgrounds and positions—financial and operational—are quite, if not more, appealing to corporate boards. human resources and marketing are exceptionally important, as well, but statistically, women excel in these areas while often shying away from finance and operations. This is not to say you have to go into these areas if you don’t really enjoy them but as an entrepreneur it’s almost certain you’ll have to excel in these areas, at least from a management perspective, to succeed—and as a corporate careerwoman you need to vie for opportunities in these areas to increase your chances of being on a corporate board one day.
6. Eat your wheaties! Get ready for some late nights, early mornings and long days. More than one of our guests emphasized the fact that it sounds really cool and glamorous to say you’re on a corporate board but at the end of the day, that also means a sizeable time commitment, depending on the market capitalization of the company (small, mid, large). If you want to be on a corporate board and do a good job, get ready to commit the time—in addition to all of your other responsibilities—to being a board member and representing yourself well, and also leaving the opportunity open for other women. We can have it all, but not all at once, so make the move to be on a board when you have the time to commit to corporateg governance.
7. Tell it like it is, so it can become the way it should be. As a Director, you’ll need to be able to ask tough questions and hold C-level executives accountable (and these could be people older than you, with more degrees than you, and more experience than you; but it doesn’t matter). Essentially, it’s your job to protect the corporation and its owners (shareholders) against negligence, poor strategy, hasty decisions, greed, corruption and all other manner of ill, ignorance, apathy, inagility and uninspired thinking that impacts the performance of companies. This will sometimes mean being a contrarian, and possibly standing alone. Gender doesn’t matter. Right choices do. And the ability and willingness to communicate the most prudent course of action matters even more. Ask yourself if you can do this. I hope you said, “yes,” if you’re interested in being on a board because it’s a requirement (an unspoken one, anyway).
8. Companies really are looking for a few good women! This was great to know from our guests: Companies of all sizes actively seek women to be on their corporate boards. Bob Pearson said that typically in his searches the companies actually request a diverse pool of applicants both in terms of gender and race/ethnicity. Companies are looking for you, so listen to this show (you can list to it on the player to the right and you can also subscribe to our show on iTunes; search “The Ms. CEO Show”) and do everything recommended by our guests to get yourself in line for a corporate board position.
9. It’s about the money, honey! An absolute imperative for being on a corporate board is that you understand the financials. If this isn’t your strong suit, take a course, get personal coaching, do what is required to shore up in this area because it will serve you well professionally and in your pursuit of a corporate board assignment.
10. There’s power in numbers (and knowledge). Think about joining an organization that is a member of ION, which is working through organizations across the United States to inform and empower women to prepare themselves for corporate board memberships—and to remind companies of the major difference that women in leadership can make. Get informed, get involved!

Be Encouraged,
Felicia Joy