Entrepreneurial Women Indianapolis

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They are hosting an Intro to Whale Hunting at 12:00 - 1:00 pm.  This is a free event with light refreshments served.  You can register for this event here: Open Registration--Free Event

Later in the same day you are invited to cocktails and hors d'oeuves at Capital Grille from 4:30-5:30 pm.  This event requires a $30 registration fee for food and beverages.  You can register here: Open Registration

 

Rosemary Brehm, president of turningpoints2results, is an entrepreneur and expert in helping organizations accelerate their potential into profitable results by focusing on five key shifts in their businesses: strategic business performance; leadership alignment; team dynamics; customer intimacy, and competitive positioning.   In addition to her consulting services, Rosemary is certified as a Professional Facilitator (CPF) through the International Association of Facilitators.

Rosemary was founding Chair of the Tampa Bay Women President’s Organization and served that group from 2003-2009. She is a member of the International Association of Facilitators; the Senior HRD Forum; ASTD; and the Organizational Development SIG.  She holds a Certificate in Training and Development from New York University and a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree from the State University of New York at Geneseo.

With over 22 years of experience in leading business development and sales efforts for Technology, Software, and Outsourcing solutions, Brian Zaas has a background in business operations optimization, systems integration, custom application development and technology leadership.  He has been responsible for driving global business development and professional service efforts for leading Fortune 500 corporations including Fujitsu, CA, and MCI-Worldcom as well as start-up growth for Pilgrim Software, Best Programs Telcordia, and most recently is leading efforts for Enterprise Solutions with Avineon.

He has led strategic and innovative solution areas for Fortune 500 and emerging growth customers in need of IT, technology, outsourcing and the infrastructure management.  Brian has also consulted with market leaders across a number of industries on leadership, pipeline development, innovation, and sales in new product development and market penetration focusing on large, complex deals. 

The Whale Hunters are proud to introduce these new Certified Whale Hunters Patners who will provide services to the Tampa business community.

 

Anita is a native of Phoenix and has been Chief People Officer for Jokake Construction for the past eight years.  She specializes in strategic planning, training and development, and business development.  Recently she undertook a leadership role in business development for one of Jokake's major lines of business.  Jokake is a whale hunting company!

Anita is passionate about helping business owners be successful and achieve their goals. She has worked with numerous entrepreneurs to help them grow both business and talents.  She also works with college students who are preparing for their careers and their first job.

For more information about The Whale Hunters Chapters, please click here.

Would you like to join our team?

The Whale Hunters needs Chapter Chairs in several metropolitan markets.   The Whale Hunters provides a turnkey program that has the potential for immediate income. When you become a certified Whale Hunters Partner, you become a member of an elite team that may chair one or more local chapters of business leaders, deliver workshops, consult or coach. The Whale Hunters is a scalable, flexible opportunity with a low cost of entry and high return.

Qualified candidates are entrepreneurial, well-connected in the small business community, excellent in sales, and able to facilitate a group of strong-minded business leaders.

If you or someone you know would be interested in learning more about opening a Whale Hunters chapter in metropolitan area, please contact us at chapters@thewhalehunters.com or call 480-239-6902.

One of my long-time business friends called recently with a whale hunting problem. He is in the software development and training business and has had several whale-sized clients over the years.

This time, however, the prospect refused to sign his company’s standard contract in favor of their own. And this contract was onerous. In particular, it stated that the whale company would own all rights to any materials created for them or modified for them. The seller would technically no longer have the right to re-sell templates or standard software that had been customized in any way for this customer. They would also lose the right to include this customer’s bugs and fixes, anonymously, in their ongoing FAQ materials available to all customers.

Furthermore, the small company’s hesitancy on this contract was making the whale angry and the deal seemed about to slip away.

He asked what I thought he should do? Here are a few ideas I offered:

1.    It’s very common for a big company to have a very different view of contracts than the small company does. Sometimes you will have requirements in your standard contract that no large company is going to sign, period. Other times, you will be faced as my friend was with a contract that frightens you. If you want to complete your big sales, you’ll have to find a way to come to terms quickly.

2.    Big companies have staff lawyers; maybe you don’t. If not, be sure that you consult regularly with an attorney who specializes in entrepreneurial ventures and will come to understand your business. Have your attorney review the contract with an eye to any pitfalls. Now is not the time to save money—invest in some good advice.

3.    If the attorney’s advice is ambiguous, you’ll just have to decide how much you want this business. Is it likely that the customer could or would cause you real trouble down the road contractually, or are they just using boilerplate language to protect their own interests? If there seems to be real danger, now is the time to say no. But if any danger is remote and unlikely, and otherwise you want to do the business, get the contract signed.

4.    Once you begin doing the work, be scrupulous about following the rules of the contract. If issues arise that are not clear-cut, negotiate them and get agreement in writing.

Contracts between big and small companies are tedious because each faces different kinds and levels of risk, regulation, and responsibility. If you routinely have problems negotiating a contract with a large customer, work on your own contract to make it more familiar to the whales.

Have you ever lost a job through contract negotiations? Have you signed a contract that proved to be a mistake? Post your comments below.

• First, Frances Hesselbein spent years at the Peter Drucker Institute, helping to translate Drucker's business principles into leadership strategies for nonprofit and public organizations.  I believe that leadership lessons for your company are best derived from lessons learned in each economic sector--from the private sector we learn best about markets and competition, from the public sector we learn best about national interests and service, and from the nonprofit sector we learn best about social responsibility.  The better we can become at aligning these lessons, the more powerful and successful we will be as leaders in every sector.
   
• Second, it is very good to see the US Armed Forces continuing on their path to a broader definition of "leadership" -- one that goes beyond military strategy to embrace a deep understanding of language, culture, and place as key elements in a military engagement.  Increasingly, these are key elements of a business engagement in the global economy.  We should expect lessons learned from this alliance that will enlighten business leaders in new ways.
   
• Finally, I am pleased to see Frances Hesselbein recognized in this way for her phenomenal career's work.  Formerly head of the Girl Scouts of America, she has been a beacon for leadership education that embraces women and girls yet is not exclusive to women and girls.  She is a powerful role model for women business owners and entrepreneurs, demonstrating that collaborative, team-based strategies have their own source of power and can supersede top-down directive strategies.

• Value is in the eyes of the client
• Fees should be based upon fulfilling value, not performing tasks.
• Time unit billing will always be less than your true value.

Has the recession affected your spending habits?

These are not questions that affect my business life or even my "balanced" life.  Ladies Home Journal cornered that market a long time ago, and People covers the dirt on public figures.  If these are questions of interest related to business, they are not gender-specific.  Could you possibly imagine an invitation to male business owners based upon questions like these?

The Forbes Fiasco comes right on the heels of Dell's incredible faux pas in launching the "Della."

But this blog is about sales and business development, so I need a link from my real anger at Forbes to some positive ideas or actions for business owners and sales leaders.  Especially women, but this is equally important for men.

In the jargon of my business, Forbes is a whale--a big company with a big reach, a big media reach.  It matters when major businesses screw up like this.   Business people around the world--owners, entrepreneurs, executives, employees, students, wannabe's--they look to Forbes for insight, support, advice, and current events, and not incidentally, the current business environment in the United States.   What is the message?  The message is that in the midst of a very difficult global economic climate, the American business women are busy standing by their men who cheat and lie, focusing on their office outfits, buying make-up and shoes, and making their daughters rich.  That is not a good message or a remotely true message!

I am an advisor to small and midsized business about how to grow by doing bigger deals with bigger clients.  It is ALL about understanding your target customer and presenting yourself in a way that is attractive to them, meets their needs, does not annoy them, and does not frighten them.  This offer I received from Forbes violates all of those criteria.

So before you make the Forbes mistake, my advice is to consult with your target audience about their business interests, their business needs, their business challenges and their perceived opportunities. 

The people at Forbes are obviously trying to get on the very popular and lucrative women-in-business bandwagon.  I applaud their motives and hope they will find a way to be successful.  But here's just a quick laundry list of topics that would be oh-so-much more interesting to business women:
 

• who are the lenders and investment bankers targeting women-owned businesses?
• how can your company get involved in the federal stimulus package?
• How are female leaders and employees responding to downsizing and outsourcing? 
• What can you do when you are downsized or outsourced?
• How can business owners mitigate the recession influence on their employees?
• what are the most promising new business fields or opportunities of particular interest to women?

• "Creative Class" cities with lots of entrepreneurial activity, well-networked, open to new ideas and hungry for economic development, business growth, and community engagement.
   
• Local representatives/Chapter Chairs.  Key people with good community connections, strong sales and business development experience, entrepreneurial spirit, to assist in convening the Whale Hunters Launch in your region and to populate and lead one or more local chapters of 12-15 members.  You may be an independent consultant, a coach, a trainer, an entrepreneur? 
   
• Members of local chapters and prospective attendees at local workshops.  You don't want to lead but would like to see Whale Hunters services delivered close to you at prices you can afford. 
   
• Sponsors.  National and local business owners, executives, and marketers who want to be in front of The Whale Hunters target audience of small to mid-size business owners, sales executives, and development officers.  We are grateful to Bose McKinney & Evans for sponsoring the Indianapolis summit  and delighted to announce the National Bank of Arizona as our lead sponsor for the Phoenix launch.
   
• Communication Partners.  National and local organizations that can help us market Whale Hunters events and related opportunities.  Chambers of Commerce, TV and radio, digital broadcast programs, business journals, for sure.  Also local/regional businesses willing to co-sponsor and share their digital database in a mutually beneficial fashion.

• make a warm introduction to someone you want to meet
• refer you and your company to others of their acquaintance
• serve as a reference for you
• be "on your boat" in pursuit of a deal, when appropriate
• tell your story to the right people
• put you in front of groups who are interested in your message
• advise you about your approach, your message, your strategy or tactics

The Whale Hunting Women Summit in Indianapolis was a great success on Thursday June 4.  More than 175 awesome business and professional women attended, with some very self-assured men in our midst!

In a new format this year, we had two sessions of "voices and vignettes," each featuring three women talking about one or more big deals in their lives and how they handled both the adversity and the opportunity.  We also had two keynote speakers (plus me!).

I wanted to share my most memorable take-aways from these women, who spoke from their hearts and their experiences about how they've done deals in big business and small business and sales and community, as entrepreneurs, philanthropists, sales professionals, speakers, and educators.

The deals they've done are very diverse--taking on new careers, launching new businesses, building and turning around nonprofit community organizations--building things, raising money, creating powerful partnerships.

These are five themes that I heard over and over, from the lives of whale hunting women:

1.  "Can't" is a catalyst

When someone else says "you can't" -- whale hunting women have transformed that negative feedback into a fierce motivation to complete a goal.  The closer to you that person is, perhaps the stronger is your motivation to prove the prophecy wrong.

2.  "Shouldn't" is a spark

Often the people closest to you are afraid of what will happen to them if you succeed; hence they encourage you not to try.  Whale hunting women have transformed the "should not" into a powerful "must."

3.  "Boat" is a blessing

The Whale Hunters use the metaphor of "the boat" to indicate those co-workers, friends, and supporters who are on board to support you in landing a big deal.  Whale hunting women populate and launch their boats.  You cannot hunt whales alone!

4.  Learning is Leverage

Our speakers have a very wide range of formal education, from almost none to a whole lot.  Most of them have changed careers several times.  In every case, they sought out new learning opportunities, applied to their needs, and self-directed--including formal and informal learning and training.

5.  Despair breeds determination.

We heard some stories of times of true despair--women who faced physical danger, who dealt with economic ruin, who were betrayed by people they trusted.  In these stories of survival, women were able to channel their despair into a determination to change their circumstances.

As I look back at these lessons, I am struck by how often there was a very negative event or circumstance that inspired a woman to take a bold new step, regardless of her fear or negative feedback.

So in these scary economic times, if you are grappling with any  demons or big-stretch opportunities,  take heart from the whale hunting women who shared their stories to inspire others.

Soon we will have video and still photos of the Summit to share with you. 

• business growth strategies
• sales development
• marketing and social media

• Molly Gordon
• Monica Flores
• Brooke Green
• Lorraine Ball

My home town, Indianapolis, features a beautiful city center, all deliberately laid out before the city was developed.  The city center is a perfect square mile, circumscribed by the streets named North, South, East, and West, and in the middle of that square mile is a circle, in the center of which stands a monument to Indiana's soldier and sailors who fought in the Civil War [and also in the Spanish American war, but that is another story].  We call this landmark "the monument" and the center of our city "Monument Circle."  At this spring-time of year, it is lush with flowers and its fountains are splashing into the pools that surround it.

The figure at the very top of the monument is "Miss Liberty."  It is said that she faces south in order to welcome home the surviving troops.  At the lower levels of the monument, east and west depict friezes of "war" and "peace," and each of the four lower level squares is dedicated to one of the armed forces.

Today America honors our fallen heroes and our veterans--all of the men and women who serve and who have served to protect the liberties that we enjoy.  I add my voice to that praise and thanksgiving, and I do so from the heart of a city that knows well how to remember and how to honor.

Business owners and executives have struggled through recent downturns in our economy, and it is easy to feel discouraged and disappointed with sales and business development or opportunities or growth, or simply a temporary downturn in expectations.   Can we find the grace to honor?  Do we have the spirit to celebrate?

I'd say yes, and that grace and spirit is more important today than ever.  The fundamental freedoms still live that encourage entrepreneurship in the United States, that nurture business development and business growth, and that allow women and men to found and grow business enterprises.

For those privileges I am profoundly grateful to the women and men who have fought for them since our founding as a nation.  I think especially today of my dad Ray Tag, WWII fighter pilot stationed in England and flying missions over Germany, who was a German POW when I was born, and who survived and thrived as an entrepreneur and salesman after that war and who [with our Mom of course!] raised seven daughters to think like he did about American business!  My dad passed away almost 40 years ago but his love for enterprise and American ingenuity is alive and--I hope--well.  Let's give thanks, celebrate, and build our businesses with renewed energy tomorrow.