Looking for some great podcast episodes to add to your listening list? Here are five suggestions from JJ Ramberg, co-founder of podcast discovery app Goodpods. She provided MSNBC with a “must-listen” playlist for women entrepreneurs. Link to article.
A recent podcast from Hidden Brain entitled “Less Is More” discussed some important realities on how to make a make a convincing argument. Specifically, it is often a better choice to limit yourself to presenting only a few strong points rather than going for quantity and adding in more points that carry less weight than your original few.
While this discussion does not specifically target entrepreneurs, small business owners are constantly faced with the challenge of pitching themselves – either for funding or to make a sale or to hire a team. Understanding how to make the most convincing argument is bound to help in all those arenas. Hope you have time to give the free podcast a listen!
Each month, we send an email blast to students enrolled in the program with a list of funding opportunities and business resources. In between the monthly email blasts, we keep this spreadsheet updated daily with new opportunities that we find (the last column indicates the date when the item was added to the spreadsheet): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zU5SUCYBopz64FM4q_nqp2wvILmcdItq_PRWQRXFUB4/edit?usp=sharingMore
Monique Rodriguez, self-made millionaire and founder of Mielle Organics, founded her natural hair care brand in the wake of losing her son at eight months of pregnancy. She decided to leave her career as a nurse and pour her energy into her startup which would also enable her to cope with her post-partum depression. That creative outlet that helped her get through the trauma of losing her son has become a multimillion-dollar brand sold in over 100,000 stores across the U.S.
Rodriquez mentions that the best career advice she’s ever received came from her husband who said, “Success, if not owned, is rented — and rent is due everyday. Don’t get complacent, don’t get comfortable, and never feel like you ‘made it.’ Because when you get to that place, there’s always someone trying to take your spot. You have to continue working and striving as if you know [your spot] is not guaranteed.” To read more about Rodriguez’s journey, check out this piece on CNBC.
According to this piece in Fast Company, during 2021 alone, over 5 million new companies were registered in the US alone which is an increase of 23% over the previous year. While some of this increase can be attributed to the impact of the global pandemic, research is suggesting that education is playing a role as well.
While some experts have felt that continuing education is more about “signaling rather than skill development”, this new research is providing evidence that additional years of post-high school education can boost self-employment in high-growth industries. Research goes on to point out that, “for women, education may have an even greater impact on encouraging them to jump into entrepreneurship by increasing their confidence in addition to their skills.”
Education is certainly something we believe in at the Institute! If you (or someone you know) would benefit from our free 12-week entrepreneurship certificate program, go to this page and click the “Join the Waitlist” button. We enroll on a quarterly basis and reach out to those on the notification list in the order that they are there.
As we head into Thanksgiving this week in the US, many families will be gathering around tables where multiple generations are present. In this interview and podcast from NPR’s Life Kit, Pamela Jolly, founder and CEO of the strategic investment firm Torch Enterprises shares thoughts on what generational wealth includes and how to create structures in which it can be shared. Specifically, Jolly states that wealth isn’t just about cash. It can be whatever you want it to be – from your relationships to your education and knowledge to the things you own – “wealth” can be anything you can pass down to make your mark on the world.
Patrina Dixon, author of It’$ My Money and graduate of the Women’s Entrepreneurship Certificate program at Cornell was recently featured in this article in Business Insider.
In this piece, she shares her thoughts on how to generate side income. Specifically, she states the importance of determining your existing skills, experimenting with different opportunities for growth and outlining income streams that best work for you and your needs. Keep up the amazing work, Patrina!
Back in January 2022, we posted a link to a Google sheet we keep updated each day with global, regional and local grant opportunities being offered to small business owners. Updates to this list get emailed out to those enrolled in our program at the beginning of each month, but we are reposting a link to the spreadsheet here (so it is more visible in the list of posts) so all can take advantage of the latest and greatest information we have!
When co-founders of LOULOU LOLLIPOP, an eco-friendly baby product company, looked to expand their company globally, they realized they didn’t have the right to use their name in Europe and China. It was a three-year legal battle with a hefty price tag to nail down the trademark issues. Co-founder Eleanor Lee shared, “There will be challenges and mistakes along the road, there were for us. They’re stepping-stones. Don’t dwell on them.” To read more about their adventure in launching a global brand, read this piece in Women of Influence.
Often in industries that are more creative, there is an expectation that you need to offer time and labor for free or for deeply discounted rates to get work…or “exposure”. In addition, there’s also the problem of the “brown discount,” which refers to a common workplace issue of people of color being asked to provide the “vastness and value” of their experiences, but without fair compensation or resources. But as journalist Juleyka Lantigua-Williams shares, “exposure” doesn’t pay the rent or the grocery bill. This episode from NPR’s Life Kit discusses some of these challenges in greater detail and shares strategies to ensure you are being paid what you are worth!