Focus Magazine of SWFL Swimsuit Heat Wave | Page 51

Women in
business

By Ginny Grimsley

It’s a question I hear frequently as more and more women strike
out on their own, whether it’s to start their own company, write a
book, turn their great idea into a product, or otherwise monetize
their talents. The number of women-owned businesses in this
country is growing 1.5 times faster than the national average.
From 1997 to 2011, they increased by 50 percent.
I love seeing this surge of confidence! Putting yourself out there
is risky, but it’s better to try and fail then to spend a lifetime wondering, “What if?”
Yes, I do have a favorite piece of advice for women in business
but first, a word about a project that gleans wisdom from dozens
of us female entrepreneurs.
“One Red Lipstick” is a documentary, book and website being
created to advise, encourage, inspire and empower the more than
200,000 women launching U.S. businesses each year.
Filmmaker Spenser Chapple (Tiny Elephant Films) has received
great support for the project on KickStarter, where she has
already met her minimum goal -- the amount necessary to finish
the film and book -- and has until June 28 to raise an additional
$5,000. That will cover expenses associated with editing and
distribution.
I’m excited to be featured in “One Red Lipstick” (the title comes
from the emboldening power of red lipstick). I believe, like
Spenser, that women working together have tremendous strength,
and that there’s a lot we can do to help each other succeed as
entrepreneurs.
And we do need to help each other.
Despite the fact that our businesses added 500,000 jobs over 10
years while other privately held firms lost jobs, we’re also less
likely than men to borrow money to expand, so our businesses
are smaller. They’re more likely to fail and, despite the huge number of sales receipts we ring up, the total is still disproportionately
less than our male counterparts.
That information, by the way, comes from the U.S. Department
of Commerce’s “Women-Owned Businesses in the 21st Century”
report.
It details the hurdles we still must overcome: the legacy of a long
history of discrimination; our tendency to be risk-adverse; and
even some of the ventures that we choose. The report says we
can help ourselves by creating more supportive networks, having
access to more information, and finding mentors.
That last point gave me pause. When I launched my first business, there were comparatively few female CEOs, and certainly
no internet to foster communication among them. I learned how
to run a business mostly through good old trial and error. That’s
also how I figured out how to balance that work with my roles as
mother, wife and daughter, and how to fit in time volunteering for
the community organizations I valued.
About Marsha Friedman
Marsha Friedman is a 24-year veteran of the public relations industry. She is the CEO of EMSI Public Relations, a national firm
that provides PR strategy and publicity services to businesses, professional firms, entertainers and authors. Marsha is the author
of Celebritize Yourself and can be heard weekly on her Blog Talk Radio Show, EMSI’s PR Insider.

But women don’t have to go it alone anymore, and nor should
we. Which is why I welcome questions like, “What’s your best
advice for women in business?”
Here it is: Know your audience.
Because guess what? It’s you!
Women account for 73 percent to 85 percent of all consumer
decisions (according to Boston Consult