You Have A Choice!

You know that you have a choice to stay in that dead end job or start your own business, right? If you’re thinking about starting something, do you know what you want to do? Right now, your job is paying at least some of the bills and you’re barely making ends meet. To encourage you to continue thinking about alternative income generating ideas, think about this….

Did you know that most women after the age of 40 will experience some form of ageism in the workplace – be it subtle or overt. In fact now that the Great Recession is essentially over, most of us can get a job — a job with no power, low pay, and absolutely no social prestige! If you’re okay with that don’t read any further!

It’s a known fact that ageism at work begins for women at 40 when your boss no longer considers you for promotion or training! Imagine that! You’ve given 10+ years of your life to a boss, who after you get to a certain age decides that due to your age you are no longer promotable! Does that get you pissed off? It should!

Do you want to know the real reason the job market bounced back? Millions of Americans have simply left the workforce to strike out on their own as small business owners – specifically middle aged people – and leading the charge are women over 40!

Now obviously starting a business is NOT EASY at any time in life, much less when you’re at this age! You also need to KNOW yourself.

To that end, which statement sounds more appealing to you?

“I want the comfortable life. I want or need stability in my life. I do not want to risk my well-being, and I value my free time to be able to relax.”

OR

“I bet on myself and that excites me! I like taking risks because I want the rewards they offer. I love to work, and I want to keep growing. I am very ambitious, and I can handle being in a position of discomfort a while.”

The first statement best describes employment. It is an easy path to follow because you know all the steps, and if not, you can find all the steps. You will encounter comfort if you are doing your job right, and if you don’t age out of the work and get laid off as the work force gets younger than you. You have a set schedule, and you know exactly when you switch your mind from work to family (usually 5PM Mondays to Fridays).

The second statement describes entrepreneurship. To be an entrepreneur you kind of need to embrace the fact that your schedule will be all over the place, and you will be thinking about 100 things at the same time while usually never knowing when the next time to relax will be! Additionally, the work is a grind – but you love it as you’re pursuing your dream because you love that what you are creating is yours! Your life will be unstable and unexpected, but you will love everything about it because your ambition and dreams are too big not to be pursued.

As you can see, these lifestyles are very different.

Entrepreneurs and employees are both necessary in this world, so no matter what path you choose, understand that you are still valuable to the society.

My name is Felicia Lopes and I am the founder of an online business where I coach Women Over 40 to re-establish and re-invent themselves as entrepreneurs through my online classes, small business services and opportunities, as well as events. I can help you!

Bottom line, if you’re looking for a great idea for a business, download my FREE booklet The Top 40 Small Business Ideas for Entrepreneurial Women Over 40 which is jam packed with million dollar ideas for new businesses and links to get you started. https://itiv6yfr.pages.infusionsoft.net

Online Sources of Capital for Women Entrepreneurs

Capital is pivotal for the success of any entrepreneur to launch a sustainable and lucrative business. Traditional routes of access to capital are changing as technological development creates new avenues and the distance between entrepreneur and investor decreases due to an increase in fast and efficient communication.

Women entrepreneurs have notoriously faced hardships in gaining access to capital, from lack of information and resources and local and state government assistance, to facing cultural biases from investors. Without adequate capital, women cannot make their creative ideas a reality, nor can they afford to maintain the businesses that provide jobs for a significant portion of the population.

U.S. Census Bureau data reveals that women own 36 percent of privately-held businesses and contribute $3 trillion to the economy due to job creation—creating 16 percent of jobs in the nation. As more women become their own bosses, they compose a larger share of small businesses, of which 80 percent have no employees other than the owner. In 2013, there were 28.8 million small businesses in the U.S.

Traditional means of gaining access to capital, which typically involved a long and cost-intensive process, are being expanded with online options, which provide smaller loan amounts faster and at lower costs.

Here are some new, innovative tools for women entrepreneurs seeking financing:

Crowdfunding Crowdfunding is an efficient way to gain capital from many individuals through small donations, and is low risk compared to venture angels and banks. A 2015 Massolution report estimates that $17.2 billion was invested in North America through crowdfunding websites, a number that’s increasing each year. Top crowdfunding platforms include Kickstarter, Indiegogo, GoFundMe, CircleUp, Patreon, Crowdrise, Razoo, AngelList, and many more.

Gender Lens Investment According to Veris Wealth Partners, investment of this type has risen 41 percent in the past year, up to $910 million. In addition, the number of mandated publicly traded gender lens investment strategies has reached a total of 22, after five years of steady growth. This is an incredible increase from 1993 to 2012, when there were only five strategies for gender lens investing.

Online Lending Tools An emerging means for access to capital for small businesses in particular are online lending tools. The 2017 Kauffman Foundation report states that many businesses are in need of funds to manage cash flow and to access short-term financing, and the most commonly used tools are loans and lines of credit. Fintech companies like OnDeck and Kabbage are facilitating small businesses’ access to credit in online lending by providing fast online vetting for small business loans, utilizing personal data and credit scores.

Whether they decide to leverage crowdfunding, merchant cash advances or sector-focused angel syndicates like gender lens investment, women entrepreneurs in need of funds for their startup—or capital for their business—have new tools at their disposal.

Commentary by Desiree Patno
Originally post on RISMedia 

Desirée Patno is the CEO and president of Women in the Housing and Real Estate Ecosystem (NAWRB) and Desirée Patno Enterprises, Inc. (DPE), as well as chairwoman of NAWRB’s Diversity & Inclusion Leadership Council (NDILC). With 30 years of experience in housing, Patno is a champion for women’s economic growth and independence. In 2017, Entrepreneur.com named her the Highest-Ranking Woman and 4th Overall Top Real Estate Influencer to Follow. For more information, please visit www.nawrb.co

#capitalwomenentrepreneurs #crowdfunding #genderlensinvestments #onlinelendingtools

The Determination of Creative Women

From our Connected with Kathleen Cooke Section.   
Re-published with permission from Kathleen Cook.  

Originally posted on www.KathleenCooke.com July 5, 2019 and in her Blog influencelab.com/women Web/blog: kathleencooke.com,  Twitter: @kathycooke

In a recent Wall Street Journal article, What Women Artists Knew About Work, Mason Currey cites Harriet Beecher Stowe’s (“Uncle Tom’s Cabin”) letter to her sister-in-law with these words…

“Since I began this note, I have been called off at least a dozen times – once for the fish-man to buy a codfish – once to see a man who had brought me some baskets of apples – once to see a bookman… then to nurse the baby –then into the kitchen to make a chowder for dinner and now I am at it again, for nothing but deadly determination enables me to ever write – it is rowing against wind and tide.”

As I sit at my desk and computer hashing it out with a multitude of to-do’s nipping at my feet, I feel very close to Harriet. It requires determination and sheer work to find the time to read, think, research and write but I am compelled to do so by the pounding drum within me.

Finding time to create was difficult for many women throughout history. In many ways we have it easier today but media distractions can be one of our fiercest opponents. Technological advancements have disrupted and loaded our lives with interruptions and the one highest on the list is the smartphone in our hands. Its unrelenting grasp hooks us. We often get blindly swept away following social media, watching YouTube or are mesmerized by video games.

Women of the past had multiple distractions since so many worked from home. Most were solo entrepreneurs who produced in their own creative spaces. They had to learn to discipline themselves and learn business skills on their own. The entrepreneurial spirit continues today. According to a 2017 survey by Remote.co, 28% of women who work remotely are CEO’s and leaders of their own companies compared to 5.2% of women working in S&P 500 companies and 6.4% of women in Fortune 500 companies. Interestingly, 90% of women surveyed chose to work remotely because of the barriers they felt from men in top leadership positions. Another reason was the inability to be a family caregiver due to conflicts in the workplace. The New York Times reported in 2017 that “half or more of the women who earn an M.B.A. that year would drop out of the full-time workforce within a decade.”

I had several distractions, including children, before I was able to fully pursue my first passion: theatrical acting. The balance of work and home responsibilities often continues to deter women from pursuing artistic and business endeavors. However, my dad, a basketball coach, often inspired me with these words from his mentor, former UCLA coach John Wooden, “Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” My dad taught me to be persistent and not to be deterred by interruptions. My heavenly Father has also taught me that when you are pursuing what you are called to do by God, interruptions won’t deter you either.

Completing a project of any kind may have momentary interruptions, many of which can’t be controlled. Some may only last moments and others, years. But one thing I have discovered is that there is real joy and contentment when you are in the zone of creative work doing what God’s called you to do. When you are in the middle of where He wants you, it doesn’t matter if it gets difficult. You’d do it again and again because it breathes life into your soul. It allows you to communicate with God fully.

At the end of editing my devotional, Hope 4 Today: Stay Connected to God in a Distracted Culture, I was given a 24-hour deadline by the publisher due to printing issues to complete the final draft. I was forced to stay up and work all night, shoving all other responsibilities aside. Surprisingly, the time flew by. I found myself energized within the sleepiness because I was driven to submit a manuscript that I felt had been inspired by God.

Headwinds can never deter those who are “called according to His purposes.” (See Romans 8:28.)

#determination #womenartists #Work