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Sep 25 2015

For Women on the Move

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JDC met Heather and Nicky from Women on the Move at the start of summer. Friends since 1981, they have shared successes, challenges and many adventures. As serial entrepreneurs they now join forces to bring an unparalleled depth of knowledge, understanding, experience and passion to help women start and grow prosperous businesses. Women on the Move is Heather’s third business startup and Nicky’s second. Prior to her first startup, Heather climbed the corporate ladder and was VP of Sales and Marketing for Lucent Technology before she was 35. Nicky fast tracked her entrepreneurial path within a franchise structure. She started with Arthur Murray Dance Studio as an instructor at 30, two years later becoming a sales manager and shortly after that a successful franchisee.  As we learned more about these wonderful women’s individual and collective successes, we just had to share their experiences and learnings with you. Here are 4 great pieces of  advice from Heather and Women;

  1. Best piece of advice for women struggling with sales: Invest in yourself and get some training. Sales is a skill and like any other skill it is acquired, and that takes time and training.  You need a process so you can look back and see where you made a wrong turn and where you made good turns.  Otherwise you are just shooting in the dark. Learn to drive sales and develop strong closing skills and excellent communication skills. Make sure you know how your product is relevant to your buyer and make sure you know how to present your product as critical.
  1. Women are by nature more collaborative than competitive. Community and teamwork are part of how we are wired. We thrive on community and confidence, which is a key factor in sales and entrepreneurship, that soars when women work together towards a common goal.  We love to contribute to one another’s success, it is our instinct to nurture and that sets us apart from men.
  1. More than I have from my success! Failing forward is important. When we fail we examine where we went wrong and where we can improve next time. One rarely looks at one’s success with the same intensity. I always say that Olympic medalists have failed more than anyone else on the planet.  They kept getting up when everyone stayed down.  If you keep on keeping on regardless of failure, at some point you will be the last one standing.  That is one of the key secrets to success….keep on keeping on.
  1. Never, never, never give up. It always takes more money and more time than you think it will. And always marry your passion with your skills. That is a winning combination.  Never stop learning.

 For more information on Women on the Move.

www.womenonthemove.club

Written by Marisol and Silvia Fornoni, Founders of JDC.

JDC supports socially conscious organizations with finding sustainable ways to tell their stories using visual design, engaging content and non-traditional media. We help you with anything from organizing fundraising campaigns to web design and social media management.

http://www.joint-development.com

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Written by Dwania Peele · Categorized: Marisol and Silvia Fornoni · Tagged: adventures, Arthur Murray Dance Studio, businesses, Canadian Small Business Women, challenges, collaborative, community, competitive, corporate ladder, franchise, Heather, invest, Lucent Technology, Nicky, Sales and Marketing, serial entrepreneurs, success, teamwork, training, women on the move

Apr 28 2015

A Simple Reminder.

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The hardest thing for us female entrepreneurs is having to come to terms with the notion that work-life balance is a figment of our imagination. Like a majestic flying unicorn – although fun to imagine, it really doesn’t do much for us.

As entrepreneurs, we shouldn’t be ashamed to say how truly ‘unbalanced’ life is. Sugar-coating work/life on social media, and in conversation with others, can only do us so much good. After a while, it all just catches up with you.

This is why the theory of ‘Leaning In’ – proposed by Facebook’s COO Sheryl Sandberg, which suggests women should lean into leadership roles in order to create greater structural organizational changes to positively impact and improve work-life balance – makes working gals like us shake our heads a little bit. Not because Sandberg’s theory isn’t valuable – but because it’s a theory, and theories don’t always hold up when applied to real-life situations with varying degrees of socio-economic factors.

Real-life disequilibrium is:

  • Fluctuating eating schedules tied to your latest project milestones.
  • Having virtually non-existent sleeping routines and habits.
  • Social outings that are veiled in euphoric desperation.

Add a couple of children / spouses / relatives into the mix, and work-life balance is officially out the window.

As all-round doers, it easy for us to internalize frustration, anxiety, sadness and believe we are not ‘measuring up’. This is why we’re writing you this simple reminder: Do things your way.

Make your own work-life rules and stand by them when family and friends make unwanted suggestions as to how you ‘should’ live your life (whether at work or at home). Be kind with other female entrepreneurs – we might not all face the same struggles and/or barriers to entry, however, we are all willing to incur significant risks, possible rewards and daily setbacks in order for our businesses to stay afloat. That in itself deserves acknowledgement, respect and admiration.

But most importantly, be compassionate with yourself. After all, you’re doing the best you can with the circumstances presented before you – don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. When you acknowledge how far you have come and take pride in your business, you will see that by not succumbing to the pressures of ‘having it all’, you will come out of this process standing tall and proud.

Written by Marisol and Silvia Fornoni, Founders of JDC.

JDC supports socially conscious organizations with finding sustainable ways to tell their stories using visual design, engaging content and non-traditional media. We help you with anything from organizing fundraising campaigns to web design and social media management.

http://www.joint-development.com

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

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Written by Dwania Peele · Categorized: Marisol and Silvia Fornoni · Tagged: businesses, Canadian Small Business Women, COO, Entrepreneurs, Facebook, family, female, friends, having it all, Joint Development Canada, leadership, Leaning In, Marisol Formoni, Sheryl Sandberg, Silvia Formoni, social media, socio-economic factors, theory, women, work-life balance

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