All Entries in the "Women in Business" Category
Microenterprise of the Year
“Worming” your way into a successful small business ss the saying goes, “necessity is the mother of invention” or, in the case of Nancy Ellen Hatch Warner, it’s a worm farm. Nancy, a 77 year old grandmother of four, owns and operates The Worm Ladies of Charlestown, which sell red wiggler worms, their castings, and other supplies to people interested in turning their food scrap into a soil enhancer – in other words, composting. The Worm Ladies also runs workshops and clinics and provides consulting services for individuals and businesses interested in using worms for organic waste management.
How did someone with a master’s degree, working in art education and therapy, end up with a worm farm? In Nancy’s own words, “it was a hobby that got out of hand.” A fiber artist, Nancy raised angora rabbits, whose hair she sheared, spun, wove, and knitted into her creations, which were exhibited locally and in galleries in Maryland and Washington, D.C. These rabbits, however, presented a challenge with how to manage the manure and flies under their cages. An avid gardener, Nancy had come across worm composting and, in the early 1990s, decided to see if it would help. It did. The worms ate the manure, the flies disappeared, and her problem was solved, “showing her how much good the worms did.”
Several years later, after reuniting with a long-lost childhood friend and giving her a bucket of worms for her garden, Nancy decided to turn her hobby into a money-making venture. They began The Worm Ladies. Nancy has since taken over sole operation of the business, along with the help of volunteers and an independent contractor.
Sensing both the educational and entrepreneurial potential of her discovery, Nancy worked with three U.S. Small Business Administration partners to move her business forward. Nine years ago, as a result of attending classes at the Center for Women & Enterprise, Nancy hired a lawyer and incorporated. With the help of a SCORE business counselor with whom she worked for more than 5 years, Nancy completed a business plan that positioned her to obtain a $30,000 microloan from Community Investment Corporation. Nancy also won SCORE’s 2017 American Small Business Championship.
Last year Nancy used that microloan money to buy equipment and expand operations from her backyard into a hoop house at Schartner Farms in North Kingstown. This expansion from a seasonal to a year-round operation ensures an uninterrupted revenue stream and increased production. The Worm Ladies will be selling to schools, nurseries, farmers, growers, and offices, and it will be enriching the soil of a 22 acre farm at a compost training facility being launched on Exeter Road in North Kingstown. Because of this growth, she also hopes to soon hire her first employee, and the help of interns who can earn college credit.
For her demonstrated success and potential for future growth, the U.S. Small Business
Administration is pleased to honor Nancy Hatch Warner, owner of The Worm Ladies of Charlestown, as the 2018 Rhode Island Microenterprise of the Year.
UPCOMING WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT WORKSHOP: BE YOUR OWN BODYGUARD
NORTH KINGSTOWN, RHODE ISLAND, 20 APRIL 2018 – Gigi Gravel is a women’s empowerment coach, whose goal is to reignite the confidence in women and give them the power to unlock their full potential through “private coaching, personalized programs, interactive workshops, live events, and transformative retreats”. On May 7th and May 8th from 6:30-8:00 pm in North Kingstown, Gigi will be hosting the event, “Be Your Own Bodyguard, 5 Steps to Protecting Your Personal Safety”, to TEACH WOMEN PRACTICAL SELF-DEFENSE. The price is $49 per person and there are 15 available spots open for each session.
In 2011, Gigi decided to give herself the life of empowerment she had always wanted. She lost 60 pounds, eliminated 3 medications, and developed her coaching career along the way. Gigi recently became a second-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and would like to take her knowledge and experience and impart this ability to the average, untrained woman. Gigi wants to give the women in her defense seminar the “mental focus, inner strength, physical fitness, [and] self-confidence” she gained from her training in martial arts as well as the ability to physically handle themselves in a physically threatening situation.
Nearly 2 million women are physically assaulted every year in the US according to the National Institute of Justice. Gigi, being a women’s life coach and guide as well as being highly trained in Tae Kwon Do, wants to level the playing field for women by giving them the ability to strike fast and hard when their life could be on the line. Gigi will teach you the five levels of safety threats, what to do, and just as importantly, what not to do in each situation. By teaching you simple and effective methods designed specifically for someone unexposed to any self-defense training, Gigi will give you the ability to strike fast and hard for maximum effectiveness.
Further information and registration.
The Business Value Forum announces May 8th program at Bryant University, “Women in Leadership: The real impact on business value creation!”
SMITHFIELD, RI, ISSUED APRIL 18, 2018…The Business Value Forum invites business owners, executives and advisors to join them in their upcoming program, “Women in Leadership: The real impact on business value creation” Thursday, May 8, from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m., at Bryant University (The Bello Center).
Join the Business Value Forum for breakfast, and a conversation with seasoned experts who will share their personal experiences and insights into the impact of women on business value creation.
Panelists include Jill Beresford, moderator. She was CEO and Chairman of the Board of a publicly held corporation during the 1990s after turning the company around from bankruptcy. She is currently CEO of Gendernomics, a company comprised of former CEOs who have used the language of learning of Gendernomics to build highly-profitable companies and help turnarounds.
Kathleen McQuiggan is an expert in the analysis and evaluation of business performance and value. She joined Artemis Financial Advisors in June 2017. She specializes in financial planning needs of women and employing sustainable investing approaches. She spent 20 years in institutional sales and investing. In 2009 she founded Catalina Leadership, a consulting firm focused on investing in women. She later joined Pax World Management as a Senior Vice President, Global Women Strategies. She has been named Investment News’ inaugural Women to Watch list.
Kimberly Corwin has spent 30 years developing and growing businesses. She began in Iowa at Composite Technologies Corporation, introducing a revolutionary insulated concrete sandwich wall panel system. She joined Hughes Supply in Florida in 2002 to help with the growth of the Miami market. She joined AH Harris in 2003 as a Business Development Manager focused on integration of acquisition HarMarc Rebar & Steel into the organization. She now serves as President and CEO of her own company, New Chapter, LLC, purchasing distressed properties, renovating and resettling.
The Business Value Forum, Inc. was founded by members with decades of experience in business. Formed in collaboration with Bryant University, the Forum offers programs focused on contemporary business challenges. Additional Information about upcoming programs is available by visiting http://businessvalueforum.org. This program is eligible for CPE credits (RI CPAs are encouraged to enroll for CPE credits when registering).
A full breakfast buffet will be served. Act now to take advantage of the Early Bird price of $45 by registering before May 1 at the registration site: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/women-in-leadership-the-real-impact-on-business-value-creation-tickets-42917084154
Spring Into Action with Your Business Growth Strategy
By Tuni Schartner
Um…where did Q1 go? (*Thinking image that goes with this aside from main
image?)
Seriously, I don’t know about all of you but with my own business and the majority of my clients’ and colleagues’ businesses, this last three months has gone by in a FLASH! Hopefully you all jumped into this New Year prepared — with your long-term growth goals firmly in place, but chances are you might not have? Either way, Spring is here and it is a great time to review your business’s performance in this first quarter of the year then take some time to plan out your growth goals for the rest of 2018 and set short term objectives that will start to move you in that direction. I call myself a ‘professional spaghetti thrower’ because I’m constantly quantifying what is working, and what isn’t, then deciding what to ‘shelf’, what to ‘trash’, and what to ‘invest more time and money into’. Many of us are visual thinkers and this analogy seems to resonate with many of my clients – I thought I’d share it with you! (*image of spaghetti on the wall, lol!) Understanding how busy professionals and business owners, like you, are I thought I’d share a simple process I use ALL THE TIME here, and one that I highly recommend you take and practice on your own business ASAP.
The Self-Awareness Audit!
Who are you?
What do you do?
WHY do you do what you do?
What do you enjoy doing in your business?
What do you think you’re exceptionally good at?
What do you think you are NOT doing well?
What don’t you enjoy?
What do you think your clients or customers love about what you do?
What do you think they aren’t happy with?
Diving deep into each of these questions is where the real gold is and I promise you’ll gain clarity that is the key to all the other parts of your marketing and growth strategies and campaigns when you do this exercise. This is the foundation of it all. The more time you spend on this the better, for it is truly the base, and the more solid your base the easier and more efficient the rest becomes.
Who is your audience?
Really peel back the layers of the onion here. Who is your real target audience or audience segments?
Are they men or women? Groups? A very specific age demographic, etc…
For some businesses it’s pretty simple and they have a very clear niche audience, but for others it might be multiple segments they are targeting. Again, clarity is vital to everything else you’re building within your marketing and growth strategies and
campaigns – cannot stress this enough (wink). Clearly understanding your differentiator and unique value proposition, honing in on what you enjoy doing in your business, what you’re good at and what your clients and customers appreciate (from above) should always be step one, but this second step is just as important. When applicable we really recommend diving even deeper to identify the nitty gritty details of your target audience(s), such as habits, behaviors and on and on, but having a clear basic understanding is a great start.
Where is your audience’s attention?
Now that you’ve gotten really clear on what makes you so special, and who you can help with your amazing products and services, it’s time to figure out where their attention is. You can’t craft your marketing content until you know who you are and
who you are trying to reach, right? Now that you’ve gotten super clear on those vital first steps it’s time to figure out what engaging content you’re going to create and where it needs to go. Your website, for most anyway, is a no brainer… and it is no
longer like days of old where it was basically an online portfolio, it should now be the base camp, the core of your digital marketing strategy. Aside from your website, permission based email marketing campaigns are fantastic ways to reach both your target audience, as well as your brand advocates. Email remains one of the most important tools in your toolbox and even though we continue to be bombarded with way too much in our inboxes…we’re there everyday. Social media is here to stay,
not going anywhere, and identifying which platforms make the most sense for you to be sharing and building your brand is super important. If your target audience is a very specific decision maker within a certain enterprise IT department, then
LinkedIn and Google Adwords is probably going to be a much better investment of your time, money and energy than Instagram and Snapchat. Make sense? We’ve just tipped the iceberg here, but this is an overview of the three of the most
important exercises that need to not only be done once, but revisited often (I recommend at least quarterly) to make sure all of your marketing efforts are aligned properly.
Happy Spring!
Tuni Renaud Schartner
RI’s Economic Gardener
TS Consulting
www.tunischartner.com
