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The Woman’s Advantage

The Big Idea

Women are fast becoming formidable contenders in the world of business. This has been evidenced by the rise of multi-million and billion dollar ventures that are solely or majority held by females. The double standard is close to being extinct. The experiences of the following 20 women in turning their budding businesses into thriving gold mines will hopefully inspire other women all over the globe to step up and make a difference.

 

Women Can Change The World

Studies show that one in every eleven women operates her own business. However, while multitudes of these women-owned ventures are spreading, with their numbers growing by the thousands each day, only about 5% make it to the classification of businesses that are worth over a million dollars.

In her many travels as president and spokesperson of US-based and woman-centric consultancy company WomanBusinessOwner.com and as a well-respected expert on women’s business initiatives, author Mary Cantando took this riddle as a challenge: If women are generally so passionate about growing their respective businesses, why is it that only a handful are reaping the maximum profits they can?

What The Woman’s Advantage promotes is that while making a business boom does not occur overnight, it can and does happen--as proven by the 20 women whose powerhouse ventures are featured in this book.

The Woman’s Advantage highlights the challenges faced and the eventual million dollar successes of the likes of Chico’s FAS Inc. owner Helene B Gralnick, Mercedes Electric Supply Inc’s Mercedes LaPorta, Rhona Silver’s Huntingtown Townhouse’s Rhona Silver, and Women’s Leadership Exchange’s Leslie Grossman and Andrea March, among others.

The book is divided into four key components: how to position your business for breakthroughs, how to niche your business to gain influence, how to make the most out of your certification to acquire leverage, and how to market your business for growth.

Each of the chapters features key business concepts that helped one of the 20 businesswomen highlighted in this book attain the kind of financial success they are enjoying today.

Position Your Business For Breakthroughs

Chapter 1: Organizing Your Business For Growth

Nurturing a new business is likened to caring for a newborn child. You have to see it through from infancy and apply the right planning, guiding and pruning techniques to make sure that it grows and stays healthy, and, eventually, excels marvellously in its chosen field.

If you already have an existing business, what you need is an open window to grow. This is where research comes in. As with any venture, always remember that your client’s need is more important than what you want to sell, so survey the market to see which of your products are garnering the most appeal and capitalize on those.

If you’re still starting out, not only do you need to identify what the market demands, but also the bare essentials, like pricing, location, overhead costs, etc.

Consistency to your vision is also key. If you know what you want to achieve both in the short and long term, it will be easier for you to map out your strategy and succeed. Once you’ve mastered this, the more time you will have to devise contingency plans for unexpected situations, like economic and consumer taste changes.

This way, your company will be able to adapt to changes and not freeze up when emergencies arise.

Travel agency Omega World Travel’s Gloria Bohan’s experience in transforming a one-person travel venture into an official government travel service provider is the perfect example of this.

For instance, when her competitors closed shop at 5PM, she took the extra effort of opening hers until 7PM to accommodate after-work clients.  Her dedication, discipline and persistence helped her expand. Eventually, she mustered the courage to bid for a major government travel contract alongside top travel agencies and won. . . . . .

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