Archive for July, 2010

July 29th, 2010

B2B Success in WRN Montco

While one of the many goals of the Women’s Referral Network is to network with other businesses for referrals it is always wonderful when we see success through business between two of our members.

As seen in the photos below Marsha Poust of Signs by Tomorrow in Norristown, PA was able to work with Sandra Phifer of Sandra Lee Photography in Skippack, PA to provide her a beautiful new sign outside her business location and car decal to advertise her business on the go. We have seen a number of members seeing success from their mobile advertising with Marsha. If you haven’t visited Sandra’s studio and seen her work, be sure to stop by and visit her in downtown Skippack.

For business inquiries Marsha can be reached at www.signsbytomorrow.norristown (610) 635-4000 and Sandra can be reached at www.sandraleephoto.com (215) 234-2290.



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July 27th, 2010

Exciting New Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at MCCC

Want to start your own business? We’re here to help.

Montgomery County Community College opened a brand-new Center for Entrepreneurial Studies (CES) in this spring of 2010. The CES offers a number of business support services.
• Workshops
• Counseling
• Mentoring,
• Business Classes
• Woman Owned Business Program
• Entrepreneurial Certificate Program,
• Business Incubator

Introducing the Incubator
A central feature of the CES is a Business Incubator with ten office suites that will be leased to aspiring entrepreneurs at a nominal fee. The Incubator provides a core group of new entrepreneurs with access to all the nurturing advice and counsel to help make their business a success. In addition to the comfortable modern office suite with a locking door, phone and internet access, lessees will have use of a conference space and a front door reception area. All the services provided by the CES will be available to the incubator tenants, as well as to any student at the College.

There are many benefits for new firms to use a business incubator. According to the National Business Incubation Association, “Business incubation accelerates the successful development of start-up and fledgling companies by providing entrepreneurs with an array of targeted resources and services.” While only 31% of start-ups survive after seven years, the percentage increases to 87% for those start-ups that go through an incubation process, according to the Small Business Administration. The business incubator, combined with the additional support services offered through the CES, offer prospective entrepreneurs a strong foundation to launch a new business. This combination of academic certification, mentoring, workshops and business incubation is unique in Montgomery County.

To be eligible for incubator occupancy, you will need to provide a business plan (along with other documentation including but not limited to financial information). To get started, you should contact the CES Director, Ayisha Sereni, via email at CES@MC3.edu or phone at 215-641-6684 to discuss your business, and to determine if you are an eligible candidate.

The Entrepreneurial Certificate Program
This certificate is designed to prepare students to launch and/or grow a successful business, small or large, profit or nonprofit. Linking theory and practice, students will acquire the knowledge and skills that are essential to managing a viable business. Students may pursue this certificate with/or without participation in the incubator.

The certificate program consists of the following four two-credit, skilled-based courses.
- Entrepreneurial Essentials (ETP110) will enable students to evaluate the entrepreneurial venture for themselves, as well as assist them in launching their new business.
- Entrepreneurial Marketing (ETP111) will allow the student to gain insights essential for marketing an entrepreneurial venture utilizing innovative and financially responsible marketing strategies.
- Entrepreneurial Accounting (ETP112) will provide the student with an overview of business financial management.
- Entrepreneurial Business Plan (ETP113) will enable the student to prepare a professional, comprehensive business plan that will guide their business start-up and address capital funding.

All four courses will be offered each semester (Fall, Spring, Summer) in accelerated seven-week terms to both credit students who will receive a Certificate in Entrepreneurship, and non-credit students who will receive a non-credit certificate of completion. Two courses will be offered in the first part of the semester, and two will be offered in the remaining half of the semester.

Although the Certificate in Entrepreneurship can be completed in one semester, it is recommended that a student with little or no background in business complete the certificate over two semesters at a non-accelerated pace.

For more information about obtaining an Entrepreneurial Certificate, contact CES Director, Ayisha Sereni, via email at CES@MC3.edu or phone at 215-641-6684

Non-Credit Programs
The Center provides a full range of non-credit business education courses for entrepreneurs at every stage of business growth. These classes include Marketing your Own Business, Business Development Strategies, Introduction to Green Entrepreneurship, Launch Your Small Business Unsing Online Technology Tools, Quickbooks, How to Open an Internet Store, Business Writing Essentials, Creating your Own Website.

The CES houses our very successful Women-Owned Business series by women and for women. The program offers the following options:
One evening seminar — Are you Ready to be an Entrepreneur?
12 session certificate — Starting a Successful Woman-Owned Business Certificate
To register for non-credit business classes, register online at https://webadvisor.mc3.edu or by phone at 215-641-6397 or 610-718-1861

Montgomery County Community College has two conveniently located campuses in Blue Bell and Pottstown, with additional learning locations in Willow Grove, Conshohocken and Norristown. The College boasts a nationally recognized, award-winning faculty committed to working closely together with students in the learning process. The College’s comprehensive curriculum includes 85 associate degree/certificate programs in 59 areas of study, including eight complete degrees offered entirely online, and specialized workforce development and continuing education programs, all of which leverage the College’s nationally ranked use of innovative technology.

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July 25th, 2010

What’s Your Passion?

Over the past few months a number of themes have come across my path, one of which is the most truly meaningful and that is passion for your work and life.

We have not had a sponsor for our WRN luncheons in a few months and what I have missed most about them is the story each of the women tells about what their business is but what brought them to do the work that they are doing now. Many of the women such as myself started on one path but later changed their focus to something they are really passionate about doing. Three views have brought me to write about this topic today and things that you may want to explore yourself.

The first is the book Crush It! By Gary Vaynerchuk. I began reading the book because of the astonishing success Vaynerchuk has had in promoting his business through Social Media but realized soon the book was really about finding your passion and capitalizing on it. If you are looking for a good beach read this month I highly suggest this book. If you are like me and sometimes would rather download the audio version, what is fun is the audio version is read by Vaynerchuk himself and its unimaginable not to have a little inspiration for your business by listening to the book.

The second is a video that a number of colleagues were circulating close to graduation. It is a video of Steve Jobs commencement address in 2005 to Stanford grads. It is 22 minutes long but one of the most moving commencement speeches I’ve ever heard. Jobs talks about his life and his ups and downs with Apple and Pixar but really what the focus is about his passion as an innovator. He says that life is too short and that you never know what life has in store for you that day, so living your dream and doing what your are passionate about is what you need to do.



The third is the movie Invictus from the Latin meaning unconquerable. It is an inspirational movie based on the true story of the South African 1995 Rugby World Cup team and the inspiration it had on the country as it was newly led by Nelson Mandela. The movie itself is inspiring but in it Mandela played by Morgan Freeman quotes the poem titled Invictus by Ernest Henley which last lines read, “I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.”



So what is your true direction or passion? What will you conquer today? I hope if you are not following it already some of these inspiring stories will help you reach yours.


Posted by Shannon Myers, Walton Search

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July 24th, 2010

July Luncheon

We had another great luncheon this month with our speaker Tara Radzinski entitled “Certify Your Success”.

Tara is the CEO and co-founder of Sustainable Solutions Corporation, a full-service sustainability consulting firm that helps businesses build a sustainability strategy that saves money and reduces environmental impact. SSC is a certified WBE (Women’s Business Enterprise). Since 2001, Tara has led the SSC’s operations through a defined vision, strategy, steadily growing SSC in the thriving sustainability industry. Tara’s efforts have contributed to the triple digit increases in gross sales between 2007 and 2009.

Prior to founding SSC, Tara had a variety of career experiences from being an elected official to operating her own consulting business. She holds a B.S. from the Pennsylvania State University in Early Childhood and Elementary Education.

Tara was able to educate the group on the 3 types of Certification (Federal, State & Local and Private) including the costs, paperwork, research, time involved and what each opened us up to with that certification. She had a number of great tips including visiting the sites for certification even if you do not get certified because they are such an excellent source of leads and information on women owned businesses.

She also talked about stumbling blocks she went through and other women may go through and some things that helped her push through and begin to really “Think Big”. She suggested a few books that she said helped her begin to see the bigger picture including “Breaking Through: Creating Opportunities for America’s Women and Minority-Owned Businesses” by Susan Phillips Bari and “Stepping Out of Line: Lessons for Women Who Want it Their Way In Life, In Love and at Work” by Nell Merlino, the creator of Take Your Daughter to Work Day and Make Mine a Million & Business.

Hearing Tara talk about her business from the struggling first few years to the success it is today was truly an inspiring story and thank her for taking the time to share her tips.

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July 18th, 2010

WRN Montco Through the Years

Check out this great video put together from member, Lorna Fitzgerald of Life’s Images by Lorna. Life’s Images is a photo scanning service located in the Philadelphia, PA area. They specialize in scanning photographs, slides and negatives to a digital format. They also convert VHS to DVD and create DVD slideshows using your photos.

Thank you, Lorna!

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July 16th, 2010

Popular SCORE Workshop

National Penn Bank is the sponsor of the popular SCORE workshop series, “How to Start and Operate a Small Business” scheduled to be presented from 7:00 to 9:30 pm on four consecutive Monday evenings beginning on September 13. All classes are held at the Pottstown SCORE office in the New York Plaza building at 244 High Street, Suite 102, Pottstown, Pennsylvania. There is ample free parking in the lot behind the New York Plaza.

This workshop series, presented by SCORE, Counselors to America’s Small Business, is for those who are considering starting a business as well as those who are currently operating a small business. All courses are taught by experienced members of SCORE and outside practitioners recognized as experts in their specific fields.

The workshop sessions are as follows:
1. Sources of Information and the Tax and Legal Implications of the Different Legal Structures, September 13
2. The Business Plan and The Business Loan, September 20
3. Sources of Market Information, Marketing, September 27
4. It’s All About Profit, October 4

The instructors for this workshop series are local business partners and experienced SCORE counselors. Tap into their expertise to gain practical, real-life information on how to start and operate a small business. The instructors are as follows: Hanna Hartman, Vice President and Branch Manager at National Penn Bank; Don Havas, President of Applied Technology and Sciences, Inc; Richard Heylmun, Owner/operator of retail, catalog, farming and insurance businesses; William Hoke, Founder and owner of a high tech small business for 27 years; John Henning, A Franchise Consultant and founder of the Pottstown Herald.com online newspaper; David Megay, Esq., Attorney with O’Donnell, Weiss & Mattei, PC; Dick Powell, Property Management and Cable access TV Producer; Scott Rakowski, CPA for Rakowski and Company; and Carolyn Wiker, Head of Adult Services at the Pottstown Public Library

Registration begins at 6:45 pm, and all classes start promptly at 7:00 pm.
Each session costs $25. A manual on preparing a business plan will be available for $20. A special price of $100 is offered for the 4 courses as a package, and this includes the manual. As an added bonus, there is a 50% discount off the workshop fee for each additional person.

This has been an extremely successful and well-attended workshop. Early paid reservations guarantee a seat. For more information or to register, call the Pottstown SCORE office at 610-327-2673 or visit the website at www.pottstownscore.org.

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July 9th, 2010

Don’t Be Your Company Leader in Name Only

“Just wait ‘til I’m the boss…”

That sentiment has helped sustain many aspiring entrepreneurs through the process of getting their small businesses up and running.  Among the many benefits of small business ownership is the opportunity to do things “the right way” when it comes to employees and customers.

Once in charge, however, many small business owners find that leading, managing, and motivating others involved with the business aren’t as easy as they sound.  One reason is widespread confusion about the difference between “managing” and “leading.” Leadership experts say they are two very different roles, even though most small business owners consider them the same.

“Managing” implies structure, control, rules, deadlines and efficiency, says Ken Blanchard, best-selling author of The One Minute Manager. But according to Blanchard, “leadership” is nearly the opposite of “management.” Leading requires actions that are more experimental, unstructured, visionary, flexible and passionate. Managers and leaders think and behave differently.

Blanchard and his partner Drea Zigarmi spent seven years studying how business leaders exert influence and how their values, beliefs and personalities contribute to their success—or failure. Through it all, one finding was clear: A one-size-fits-all style of leadership does not exist.

Owning a business automatically puts you in a position of leadership. Your goal is to engage employees, partners, vendors, investors, independent contractors or other participants in your venture in a course of action that helps achieve a mutually shared vision. But being in a leadership position does not necessarily make you a leader.

Many entrepreneurs turn to management techniques to enlist the minds and muscles of the people they lead, but fail to capture an equally important component—their hearts. If you merely work to focus activities of followers and fail to engage them in a purpose, you won’t likely be seen as a good leader.

“The first step to becoming a better leader is to study yourself and get honest, unfiltered feedback about how you are doing from the people you lead,” says Blanchard. “You cannot effectively lead if you do not know your own values.” 

Learning when and how to provide direction (defining roles, setting goals and priorities, scheduling, and evaluating results), and support (seeking input, listening, offering praise and encouragement, sharing information, explaining decisions, and helping others solve problems) is an ongoing process for even veteran small business owners.  Employees, vendors, and customers all change; you need to make your leadership skills flexible as well.  

Today’s post was a guest post from our local Pottstown SCORE office. For more leadership ideas, contact SCORE “Counselors to America’s Small Business.” SCORE is a nonprofit organization of more than 10,500 volunteer business counselors who provide free, confidential business counseling and training workshops to small business owners. Call 610-327-2673 for the Pottstown SCORE office, or visit www.pottstownscore.org on the internet.

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