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Is your business experiencing growing pains? Like many business owners, it’s easy to become stagnant. But you must find solutions to continue to grow and reach the level of success that you’ve envisioned. Don’t get discouraged, here are 4 ways to take your business to the next level.

Certify Your Business

Becoming a certified woman owned business can significantly help your business gain access to various types of contracts.

Why certify as a woman owned business?

· Access to market: this can open doors to your women businesses by gaining certification accreditation as a woman owned business; it also puts you in front of corporate purchasing agents, thus, gaining access to lucrative supplier contract opportunities

· Apart of a large network: as women, we naturally like to network. The certifying agencies provide great opportunities to join a network of successful women entrepreneurs to form alliances, partnerships and lasting friendships.

To increase your competitive advantage, there are organizations that specialize in the certification of women owned businesses.

· National Women Business Owners Corporation (NWBOC): NWBOC’s certification program were created for women-owned and controlled businesses as an alternative to the multiple state and local certifications required by many public and private-sector agencies or prime contractors. The agency has partnered with more than 100 major corporations, agencies, and organizations who accept their certification.

· Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC): WBENC offers certification for women-owned businesses. They are a third-party certifier for businesses owned and operated by women in the United States. WBENC’s goal is to foster diversity by offering programs and policies designed to expand opportunities and eliminate barriers in the marketplace for women business owners. WBENC’s certification program is administered through fourteen regional affiliates.

Develop a Referral Network

Do you know other businesses which you share mutual customers with? You should be running, not walking to find who they are and how you can team up and benefit from each other. For instance, if you are a business writer, you should form a team with a web designer, PR firm and / or an ad agency, to name a few. If you are a realtor, you should form a team with a mortgage lender, Title Company, home inspector and home builders.

The key to this is to learn as much as you can about each team members business so that you can promote it as you would your own. You and your ‘sales’ team benefits with new leads as there are several of you supporting each other’s business. It makes so much sense to work smarter and not harder!

Get on the Social Media Bandwagon
Social networking is serious business! This is social networking for the 21st century, one in which every business owner should get on board with. As entrepreneurs, it is essential that you continually generate new ideas in order to maximize the profit-making potential of your venture. Social media is a great way to leverage your products or services. It is an easy and inexpensive way to connect to people around the world and an opportunity to make friends with people who have similar interests, find solutions to problems they might have by collaborating with others, as well as attract clients that might need your products or services.

More and more local small businesses and non-profit organizations are climbing aboard the social media bandwagon to market themselves for free. It just makes good business sense to learn how to leverage social media to build communities around brands and then leverage them into revenue.

According to a recent survey on online social networking by the Institute for Corporate Productivity:

• 65% of business professionals use some form of personal or professional social network
• 47% use social networks to connect with potential clients and market their skills
• 55% use social networks to share best practices with colleagues

Some popular social networking services, such as, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Linkedin and Bebo allow users to create a profile.

Yes to Name Dropping

Why not ask your existing clients for referrals? All you need to do is ‘ask’ them for up to three friends or colleague’s names that may benefit from your services. Once the names and contact information is given, make sure you ask for permission to use your client’s names when contacting these referrals. When contacting referrals, let each know that your client suggested you call them. This is a great way to bridge the awkwardness to get one foot in the door with ease.

Example: 'Hello, Ms. Jones. My name is Sylvia Browder from Browder Consulting Group. Your friend Ms. Greenberry suggested I call you. She thought you might be interested in growing your small business and I’d like to discuss your needs and give you suggestions for growth. I’d like to make an appointment with you - at your convenience, of course. What day works best for you this week?"

Remember that people do business with people they know and trust. So, if your client is happy with your products/services, then chances are those referrals will turn into clients.

In conclusion, as business owners, it is essential that you continually generate new ideas in order to maximize the profit-making potential of your venture. By doing this, growth is continuous, thus, you’ll avoid stagnation.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:Sylvia Browder is CEO of Browder Consulting Group, a virtual small business consulting firm. In her role, she helps Women in Business grow and succeed. She is employed as Project Director and business consultant for the Women's Business Center Inc, a non-profit economic development organization with a mission of empowering women to start and grow successful businesses. She has served as an online volunteer SCORE counselor since 2004. She also serves as a Technical Assistant Provider for SBA’s Community Express Loan Program. For FREE weekly articles go to Sylvia Browder’s Blog for Women Entrepreneurs, www.sylviabrowder.com. She can be contacted at info@browderconsultinggroup.com.

· Become a fan of ‘National Association Women on the Rise’ on Facebook: http://bit.ly/9qqvWW

· Follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/sylviabrowder

• Are you LinkedIn? I am and invite you to link with me: http://www.linkedin.com/in/sylviabrowder
• Join ‘National Association Women on the Rise’ on LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/dsd5E0
• Join our community on NING, www.nawomenrise.com

Social networking is serious business! This is social networking for the 21st century, one in which every business owner should get on board with. As entrepreneurs, it is essential that you continually generate new ideas in order to maximize the profit-making potential of your venture.
Social media is a great way to leverage your products or services. It is an easy and inexpensive way to connect to people around the world and an opportunity to make friends with people who have similar interests, find solutions to problems they might have by collaborating with others, as well as attract clients that might need your products or services. Be more strategic.

According to a recent survey on online social networking by the Institute for Corporate Productivity:

• 65% of business professionals use some form of personal or professional social network
• 47% use social networks to connect with potential clients and market their skills
• 55% use social networks to share best practices with colleagues
  

So, ready to jump on the Social Media Bandwagon? Here are 4 Super Duper Tips for Social Media Success:
Super Duper Tip 1: Create a Strategy
Social media is comprised of many different platforms. Creating and implementing a marketing strategy for using social media is extremely important. This will alleviate a lot of time wasted and help you to focus on the most effective way to use it and decide which social networks best suit your business needs. Three things to consider in your plan:

• Primary goal: decide on the purpose and goals for establishing social media
• Content: decide on the message you want to convey to your target audience. It is important that your content is in line with your company’s mission and values.
• Measure Your Progress: Set a timeline for the appropriate time to measure your success. This will allow you to make adjustments to your strategy.
  

Super Duper Tip 2: Know your audience
Often, I consult with clients who after talking to them, I find that they have not considered who their customers are. Most of them want to sell their products or services to any and everybody who will buy from them. I explain to them that they cannot be everything to everybody, it just won’t work! Imagine having to create a marketing campaign to attract a dozen or so industries. You would have to because one shoe does not fit all!

While using social media can allow you to reach millions of people, you want to make sure you are reaching the appropriate audience. Though Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin are the most popular at this time, make sure you research other social sites that can give you the greatest access to your audience.

By knowing your audience, will dramatically increase your effectiveness! This is important both online and offline. Again, know your audience!

Super Duper Tip 3: Protect Your Image or Die!
The image your business portrays sends an important message to your clients. It is easy to get too comfortable and let down your guard when using various social networks. It is important to treat people with the same respect online as you do offline. Truth is information travels like wild fire! If you have a dissatisfied customer; in the matter of seconds, they can post negative information about your business.

For example, if I was dissatisfied with the way I was treated as a consumer from a business, I could post my complaint to my 1900 twitter followers or to my 1200 fans Facebook. Imagine the impact if a percentage of my followers also shared that post with people in their network? A web savvy customer can literally shred your company to pieces as well as destroy your credibility and reputation with a single post. Protect your reputation. Remember, image is everything!

Super Duper Tip 4: Build Lasting Relationships
If you put up your profile to never update or visit the social media site again, what are potential clients and business partners to think? In order to blossom and make an impact in the communities that you join, you must network. Networking is a reciprocal process based on the exchange of ideas, contacts, advice and referrals. By networking, you are building professional relationships and generating new business.

In closing, more and more local small businesses and non-profit organizations are climbing aboard the social media bandwagon to market themselves for free. It just makes good business sense to learn how to leverage social media to build communities around brands and then leverage them into revenue.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Sylvia Browder is CEO of Browder Consulting Group, a virtual small business consulting firm. In her role, she helps Women in Business grow and succeed. She is employed as Project Director and business consultant for the Women's Business Center Inc, a non-profit economic development organization with a mission of empowering women to start and grow successful businesses. She has served as an online volunteer SCORE counselor since 2004. She also serves as a Technical Assistant Provider for SBA’s Community Express Loan Program. For FREE weekly articles go to Sylvia Browder’s Blog for Women Entrepreneurs, www.sylviabrowder.com. She can be contacted at info@browderconsultinggroup.com.

• Become a fan of ‘National Association Women on the Rise’ on Facebook: http://bit.ly/9qqvWW
• Follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/sylviabrowder
• Are you LinkedIn? I am and invite you to link with me: http://www.linkedin.com/in/sylviabrowder
• Join ‘National Association Women on the Rise’ on LinkedIn: http://bit.ly/dsd5E0
• Join our community on NING, www.nawomenrise.com
  

I received this post from "Colorofchange.com. Tell me what you think!

Dear Anita,

For years Fox News has used lies, distortions, and race-baiting to divide America. They’ve accused the first Black president of being a racist.¹ They advanced a ruthless smear that cost Shirley Sherrod her job.² And now Fox host Glenn Beck says he will “reclaim”³ the legacy of the civil rights movement by holding his “Restoring Honor” rally on the same day and place as Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.⁴

Recently, it's gotten dangerous. Last month, a heavily armed man got into a gun fight with police after he was pulled over on his way to kill people at the Tides Foundation⁵ — a non-profit that was little known until Glenn Beck repeatedly demonized it, claiming it to be the center of a great conspiracy.⁶ Last year, Kansas doctor George Tiller was gunned down while at church⁷ after Bill O'Reilly called him a Nazi, a "baby killer," and warned of "Judgment Day."⁸

Fox is a poison, and it spreads and is legitimized partly through public TVs. It's why today we're launching Turn Off Fox -- the first part of a larger campaign to diminish the influence of Fox. It's about getting Fox turned off in stores, restaurants, and other public places.

You can help by declaring your own a household "Fox free" and at the same time appealing to public establishments in your community to stop playing Fox. It takes just a moment, and you'll get a FREE Turn Off Fox sticker when you do.

http://colorofchange.org/turnofffox?id=2062-1063376

Some people watch Fox at home because it reflects their view of the world; but there are others who see it on TV in public places and assume that it's legitimate news. Fox News is often on in bars, restaurants, airport lounges, stores -- appearing to be real news, while spreading lies and fomenting hate and division.

The goal of Turn Off Fox is to reduce the number of public TVs showing Fox News, while spreading the word about Fox's poison (and how it works) to those who don't know.

Signing up for the campaign is just the first step. We make it easy for you to tell us about businesses playing Fox. If you're willing to talk with them, we'll provide you with straightforward materials that explain why they shouldn't be a party to what Fox is doing. And if there are businesses you know that want to tell the world they would never play Fox, you can help them declare themselves a "Fox-free zone."

As businesses Turn off Fox and stand up as Fox Free, and as we encourage our friends and family to do the same, we'll help make clear, to people across the country, what Fox is about. And we'll reduce their ability to do harm.

Click the link below to join us and our partners at Truthout.com in standing up to Fox, and we'll give you a free Turn Off Fox sticker. And then please ask your friends and family to do the same:

http://colorofchange.org/turnofffox?id=2062-1063376

Thanks and Peace,

-- James, Gabriel, William, Dani, Milton, and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team
August 24th, 2010

posted by anita http://www.girl-friends.ning.com

I am starting another business venture about helping people. I really don’t have the time to do the things you suggest and grow the business. Can you recommend someone that will do it and not tell you how to do it?

In recent months there’s been a brouhaha surrounding the so-called plight of single black women, arguably spearheaded by Steve Harvey’s best-selling Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man and brought into prominence on the internet by Nightline’s controversial “Why Are Black Women Single” and Helena Andrews’s newly-released Bitch Is the New Black. I’ve read everything from scary statistics to scary solutions and thought I’d offer my input on the topic: single (black) women, don’t despair because relationships and the family that they often engender are not always what they’re cracked up to be.

I love having a husband and children. To have a partner who supports and respects you, who brings out the best in you while reminding you, from time to time, that you’re not perfect, and someone with whom you can laugh often is what a lot of us women – and men – dream of. To discover the divinity of unconditional love that comes with children is a gift I would bestow upon everyone. To be the one person a young child comes to for comfort when she’s sick or scared or just wants to cuddle is validation that you’re doing something right.

However, marriage and motherhood come with a downside so steep I sometimes long for the advantages I had when I was single. Below are the five most important things I traded when I lost my single status.

1. Uninterrupted sleep. At least my kids don’t sleep through the night. When one wakes up for a drink of water, you wake up to give it to her. When you realize that the body lying next to you is not your partner, you have to get up and put said body (sometimes kicking and screaming) back in its own bed and sit there until it falls asleep. I’m a light sleeper so when my husband breathes too loud or, heaven forbid, snores, I’m wide awake staring at the ceiling. He pulls the comforter off me and rolls it around his heavy body so that I wake up … cold. When all this happens as often as it does in our home, you’re exhausted, and you still have to get up at 6:45 the next morning and drop the
one child off at school and give your undivided attention, all day, to the one who’s at home. They don’t understand, nor do they care, that Mama’s tired. They want Mama to take them to the playground or color or play with their dolls. That’snot to imply that single women always get their eight hours a night. The difference is that the latter is usually by choice. You stay up late to polish
that presentation that might get you that promotion. You were with your girls until 3:00 am talking and laughing and having a good time. You wanted to watch the end of the late movie or you were on FaceBook way too late.

2. The right to be sick. When I was growing up, I heard my mother say that with young children you can’t even be sick. This is one of the hardest parts of parenthood. Whether you have the flu or a bad cold, when you’re sick, all you want to do is sleep, or at least lie on the couch and watch crappy TV. When you have a family, you have to keep going. The deal that my husband and I made when I left my job to work at home as a freelance writer and editor was that I would be the primary care giver. And it made sense. We depend primarily on his income, so he can’t up and leave work when the kids are sick. As his parents live over an hour away and as my parents live in America, when I’m sick I still have to go on. Lunches have to be made, milk has to be poured.

3. Time. My days are not fully my own although working from home has provided me with an enviable degree of control over my own schedule. However, having a family takes a good deal of that control away. Even before I had children, I couldn’t just not come home after work. If at the last minute I wanted to have drinks with my colleagues after work, I had to let my husband know. I always had to work with his schedule, and vice versa. It’s not just my week-end anymore. If there’s
something I want to do in the evening, personal or professional, I need to make sure my husband’s going to be home on time and vice-versa. There are no more spontaneous road trips to be had. Dinner has to be done by 6:00 in order to get the kids in bed by 7:30. Now my oldest has her play-dates and sports activities and so forth, and who gets to cart her around? And on whose time? Gone are the days when I could roll out of bed at 10:00 on a Sunday morning and pick up a doughnut and coffee on my way to spending the afternoon rollerblading around the streets of DC.

4. Individuality. This can be as banal as decorating your house or apartment exactly the way you want it with the furniture you picked out. It’s as mundane as leaving a stack of papers on the table before you go to work and finding it at the end of the day in the same place as where you left it. It’s
dealing with your own messiness and watching what you want on TV every night or choosing the movie you want to see every time. It’s about doing what you want to do without consulting with anyone or worrying about the long-term affects it’s going to have on your relationship or your children.

5. Being responsible for myself. This sums up the previous four points and is this simple: when I get up in the morning, I’m automatically responsible for three people. Sure, my husband helps me with the morning routine, but even with help, I’m responsible for getting myself and two children dressed, fed and out the door on time. If we go to my in-laws’ for the weekend, I have to pack and unpack for three people. If we go out for pizza, I have to think about sweaters and pull-ups and menu choices for three people. When I buy groceries, I have to consider that my husband always wants to eat meat and that my children don’t want to eat veggies. I can never go anywhere empty-handed; I’m either carrying a child or my children’s stuff. The family car, i.e. my car, is always full of crumbs and my husband is always reminding me that it needs to be cleaned.

I wouldn’t want my life to be any different than it is right now, and when these frustrations take the forefront of my daily thoughts, I balance them with the joys that come with my lifestyle choice. I don’t have too many regrets about how I’ve lived my life or the decisions I’ve made save this one: I wish that while I was single I could have embraced being responsible only for myself. The one piece of advice I’d like to give to all you single (black) ladies is to be where you are. Take stock of what you have right now and spend as little time and energy as possible on the illusions created around relationships and families. They’re not always everything they’re cracked up to be.