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The following article was published in the Charleston Post & Courier's Business Major, a featured monthly column in the Business Review Section on August 31, 1998. Networking helps women build businessesBy DOROTHY P. MOORE Special to the Post and Courier For businesswomen, networking is both necessary and advantageous. Most important to the female entrepreneurs in our study was having a personal network support system composed of spouses, significant others, family members, and acquaintances. More than half those we interviewed received emotional support from their spouse, and nearly a third received business support. Customer networks bring entrepreneurs new opportunities within reach. Relates a Dallas entrepreneur who doubled her business in one year, "it wasn't my `women-owned business' credentials but the help of women clients that has been the most important help to me as an entrepreneur." The female entrepreneurs who identify totally with their businesses themselves feel it gives them an advantage in networking. Said a New York entrepreneur, "I go out and network all the time and I sell myself. I think I am my business." A Cincinnati businesswomen said, "My husband gets upset when he finds me at a cocktail party handing out my business card. You know, you can't miss opportunities, and as long as you are not interfering with what is going on you have to advance your business all the time." Networks of trusted advisors serve women entrepreneurs as confidential sounding boards. Boards made up of other women who own businesses appear especially valuable. Says a Southern entrepreneur, "I have some girlfriends who own companies and I draw a lot of strength from them. We go to lunch. It is a sounding board, its a release, it has been a network for me. You can't talk to your average next door neighbor about these issues." The absence of a sounding board can be keenly felt. "I don't have a group of people with whom I have a lot in common to talk with about dreams, ambitions and implementation strategies," says a Northern entrepreneur, "You know, getting support if something doesn't work out, and encouragement to try something new." Says Andrea Coates, a Massachusetts business owner, "A lot of times we talk about how we're doing with our energy, how we're able to balance the diverse demands and the rest of our life and how we're managing the customer relations and the paper work. And it's more about - I think, more about time management, new techniques, and new research and how we are surviving as people in our businesses." There is much to learn about being an entrepreneur, and networks composed of other businesswomen can teach. An Atlanta entrepreneur likened her network to a personal training program with the opportunity to create mutual loyalties. Susan Weiner of Massachusetts, the editor of the leading weekly mutual fund trade publication, says, "I don't know why, but women talk differently about the issues." Ethel Cook, also a New England entrepreneur, called one of her networks the strong support system. "We meet on the phone once a month for an hour with a definite agenda and we Rah! Rah! each other for the successes. It provides a fresh viewpoint." Networks offer a sanity check. I need a strong support group, says a Dallas entrepreneur, "to help see beyond the mess, when you feel that there's nothing there, to get you built back up so you can go back out and face everything." At moments like these, entrepreneurs in our focus groups repeatedly said, it is important to have a network of other business owners with whom they could talk freely about the ups and downs of running a business. "We have just this kind of inside network," says a Chicago entrepreneur, "the Women's Information Support Group, consisting of women who have been in business for at least seven years and are affiliated with the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO). We have the opportunity to throw our problems on the table - expansion, bankruptcy, confidential stuff." In Cincinnati, the Women's Business Development Center provides a similar function. "You need a good support group," says one member. "Something bad happens and it bothers you. Until I came to the Center I had really no support group in a business sense. Just working alone and not having anyone to discuss these issues with is the hardest part about starting a business." Two types of networking aid women who exit large organizations to start their own business. Nearly one third of the entrepreneurs in our study said that prior to leaving their prior organization they had established internal or external networks. Gale Wise, a Clinical Social Worker with the Center for Change, in New Orleans, benefited from her former internal networks. "I would say 90 percent of my clientele comes from the organization that I left, so the networking link is very important. We have established many good contacts over the past years." External contacts are important during that trying period when one is just starting. Says a Dallas businesswoman, "I keep finding out how much I don't know about being an entrepreneur. So most of my education in that field has been stepping in holes and then climbing out of them. The financial part, the managing people, all those things, its been a long learning curve." Recalls a California entrepreneur looking back on her corporate life, "I was fascinated with my colleagues. There was a creative side of exchange that I loved. The feedback was wonderful. Every once in a while I get a call and the company is asking me to come back. I was making six figures and I miss talking to all the smart people. You leave the structure that allows you to communicate with smart people. I miss the people who are inter-acting on a higher level. It was only that I am so excited about the business I have created that allows me not to notice the difference in my life." Maintaining networks is demanding, so to acquire full value the businesswoman must manage her time. "Any place that I have the opportunity to spend my time and money must have some payback to my business or my professionalism," says a Winston-Salem entrepreneur, "otherwise I am just throwing the time and money in the wind. Belonging to everything doesn't necessarily mean that it'll make your business grow. If you're not in my industry, I support you morally, but the name of the game is business--I'm here to make money." There are some things to keep in mind. Because effective networks evolve over time, the soundest advice is to build a network and have it well in place before you need to use it for assistance. Entrepreneurs we interviewed warn that it is important not to make the error of developing superficial networks with targeted benefits in mind. Interested in business networking? Right now a NAWBO chapter is being formed in Charleston. Women business owners can contact Evelyn Reis Perry at 571-4488. Also Susan Neilson with the Charleston County Library is sponsoring a special session, "Success Stories--Etching a New Path for Lowcountry Entrepreneurial Women--Building a Network," on Wednesday, September 16th that promises to be most informative. Mark this evening date on your calendar. For Questions/Comments about this site, contact dot.moore@comcast.net. Site designed by Jackye Cocoros. |