Accelerating Into 2010

January 28, 2010 By

 invitation New year, new ventures.  Over the past few weeks I have continued to work on my new business  venture in the hopes of quietly launching it before the end of this month.  While I achieved my original goal of completing the site by the end of 2009, it was still not ready to launch.  Domain names, technical issues and more plagued me.   It was a new year and I needed a new outlook.

I found new excitement  last week when I took the opportunity to pitch this business to Startup Chicks.  The pitch would offer me the opportunity to participate in the Startup Chicks Accelerator Program.  I also had the opportunity to practice my pitch the night before at Startup Gauntlet.

The program not only offered me the opportunity to gain valuable insights from the Startup Chicks Advisory Board; but also networking and sharing information with nine other startups in the program.  This would be the first program of its kind for women starting businesses in Atlanta, and while I was apprehensive, I really wanted to be part of this!  So while I continued to work on fine tuning my website, I needed to complete my Executive Summary and prepare a slide presentation of 5 slides.  The criteria to pitch was:

  • must be a startup chick (female founder)
  • need a well-formulated idea
  • committed to working in business for at least 10 hours / week.
  • willingness to be coached
  • willingness to spend min. of 5 hours in coaching program/month

Flash forward to the competition.  For those of you that have never been involved in pitch competition, it is truly remarkable.   So after each of us presented our pitches, the judges excused themselves to vote.   In order to win, we were judged on:

  • viability of idea/growth potential
  • credibility of founding team
  • ability to be coached

And even though there were great prizes for the top three winners, thanks to the generosity of the Advisory Board, we soon discovered that we would all spend the next 90 days working together receiving coaching and sharing information.  So regardless of the results, we were all winners!  I can only imagine where these businesses will be in 90 days!

Oh, I guess you want to know the results.  Well, I didn’t win.  But I did come in second!  I did win some amazing prizes, but as I have already stated, the community that we will build together as a team will help us move our businesses forward and learn from each other.  I can hardly wait to share more with you after our first meeting….

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Do You Remember Downtown?

January 21, 2010 By
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image In the movie, “You’ve Got Mail”, we watch how a large bookstore quickly put the small neighborhood shop out of business.  And while we were all rooting for the “Shop Around the Corner” to survive, it was not to be.  As small business owners, do we support each other?  Do we even remember the shops downtown or do we quickly opt for the large chains at our local mall? 

I grew up in a small town and have fond memories of walking through the shops downtown.  My sister now lives in a small town with quaint boutiques that come and go as they feel the pressure of large chains putting small brick & mortar stores out of business.  Over the last few decades many small businesses have struggled to compete against national chains.  And like my sister, I live in a quaint small town where the downtown shops continue to struggle to survive.

I recently read an article about the 3/50 project to help save the brick & mortars our nation was built on.  I was amazed at some of the information.  For example, did you know that for every $100 spent in small, independent stores, $68 goes back to the community through taxes, payroll and more.  But the national chains only return $43 to the local community.  And online sites…nothing comes home! 

So what can you do?  First and foremost, the large chains do serve a purpose. The national stores offer us cost savings on many of our staple items.  But sometimes we want something different.  And our small independent businesses offer us that.  The 3/50 project is simply that …

Pick 3 locally owned “brick and mortar” businesses you want to help and spend $50 a month helping them stay in business.   If half the employed population did this, it would generate more than $40 billion in revenue!  Here are some ideas:

  1. Instead of hosting your networking meeting at a a national coffee chain, change it to a local coffee shop once a month.
  2. Instead of meeting at the mall for a shopping expedition, meet at a local “downtown” or neighborhood plaza and explore local treasures.
  3. Stop by the local florist for that bouquet this week, instead of picking it up at the grocery store chain you frequent or calling the online service.

Challenge your friends to join forces with you.  Imagine the possibilities…for you and the local businesses.   The malls and large chains are great, but wouldn’t you miss that great little “Shop Around the Corner”?

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