Hiring a Winning Team: How Three Types of Women Entrepreneurs Put it Together

As a business becomes increasingly successful, an entrepreneur must examine her business’ changing needs and implement a system for meeting them. Booming success often means hiring a team of people to see to the details so the entrepreneur has time to run the business. Creating a winning team is a bit more complicated than just asking a bunch of people for help – is there a right way to do it? Is there a way to go about it that will leave members of the team, as well as the owner, feeling fulfilled while the business thrives?

 

A new study from Jane Out of the Box, an authority on women entrepreneurs, recently revealed there are five distinct types of women in business. Each of these five types has unique approach to running a business—and as a consequence, each of them has a unique combination of characteristics and factors. This article profiles three of the Jane “types” and the different ways they may handle hiring a team.

 

Jane Dough is an entrepreneur who enjoys running her business and makes good money. She is comfortable and determined in buying and selling, which may be why she’s five times more likely than the average female business owner to hit the million dollar mark. Jane Dough is clear in her priorities and may be intentionally and actively growing an asset-based or legacy business. It is estimated that 18% of women fall in the category of Jane Dough.

 

To Jane Dough, business is business. In her world, systems and efficiency share the throne. When hiring a team, she is likely to choose members based on their specific skill sets and how those skill sets and their exacting implementation will affect the system she plans on using.

 

Pros and cons:

Pro: Because Jane Dough is a pragmatic business owner, she’ll choose team members who know what they’re doing, and do it well. Con: Because Jane Dough is so focused on pragmatism, she may hire team members who don’t get along well with each other – personalities aren’t as important to her as efficiency and a job well done. But down the road, conflicting personalities may negatively impact the system she loves. Pro: Jane Dough’s fast pace means she gets a lot done and doesn’t waste too much time waffling on decisions about whether to hire someone. Con: That fast pace is enough to make anyone’s head spin, and if Jane Dough isn’t careful she may overlook a candidate with better long-term potential in favor of someone who fits the bill right now – putting her future self at a disadvantage.

 

Merry Jane. This entrepreneur is usually building a part-time or “flexible time” business that gives her a creative outlet (whether she’s an ad agency consultant or she makes beautiful artwork) that she can manage within specific constraints around her schedule.  She may have a day-job, or need to be fully present for family or other pursuits. She realizes she could make more money by working longer hours, but she’s happy with the tradeoff she has made because her business gives her tremendous freedom to work how and when she wants, around her other commitments. 

Because Merry Jane is “freedom-focused,” she’ll need a team that allows her to continue working as many or as few hours as she wants to, which means that she’ll have to be flexible with their schedules, too.

 

Pros and cons:

Pro: Merry Jane loves her freedom, so she’ll hire dependable people who can do their jobs without a ton of direction. Con: Loving her freedom can come at a price – Because her business may not be her first priority, communication may slip from time-to-time.  If her team is unclear in what they need to do or if they take too much accountability, this can create problems for Merry Jane.  Pro: Hiring people means that Merry Jane can delegate some of her work and therefore have even greater flexibility. Con: Creating a team also adds responsibility, of which Merry Jane already has plenty – she’ll need to face payroll, meetings, e-mails and phone calls that she didn’t deal with before – and this may mean more administrative work than she anticipated.

 

Tenacity Jane is an entrepreneur with an undeniable passion for her business, but who is struggling (a little or a lot) with the business’ financial performance.  As a result, she’s working longer hours and making less money than she’d like. Nevertheless, Tenacity Jane is bound and determined to make her business a success. At 31% of women in business, Tenacity Janes are the largest single group of female entrepreneur.

 

Tenacity Jane’s greatest asset is her attitude. She may feel overwhelmed at times but she keeps on keeping on because she truly believes in the business she’s building and she wants to make it work. As she seeks to hire a team, Tenacity Jane will seek people with great attitudes like her own.

 

Pros and cons:

Pro: Tenacity Jane feels like she can make this work, despite having faced many business challenges – she has a positive, “keep chugging” attitude. Con: When hiring a team, attitude isn’t enough.  Tenacity Jane may be drawn to people who are also enthused about her business, but does she take the time to (and does she know exactly how to) evaluate their skills, experience, and preparedness to do the work at hand? Pro: Tenacity Jane loves her business concept and can see the big vision of what it can someday be, which may include a large team sometime down the road.    Con: Because she is focused on the “ultimate” vision, Tenacity Jane may not map out the path to get there step-by-step.  If this happens, she runs the risk of hiring too many people too soon (and then not being able to retain them) or hiring them in the wrong order to maximize business growth. 

 

Whether hiring a team is strictly business, or it’s a small part of a grand scheme, it’s a big deal. Women entrepreneurs shouldn’t go into it without a solid idea about who to hire, what they’ll do and how they’ll do it – and how all of that will affect the business in the short- and long-term. From Jane Dough to Merry Jane to Tenacity Jane, business owners must get a plan in place before hiring to ensure the step from one-woman-band to marching band sounds great.

 

Interested in learning more about the five Jane types and which Jane you are? Check out www.janeoutofthebox.com

 

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A program that has helped hundreds of people come out of poverty in Spokane now faces a bleak future with its funding slashed by the state.

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Women Networking Organizations Bring Businesswomen Together In Many Different Ways

Are women networking organizations the fastest growing trend in American business? This might be so. Including online networking groups, networking organizations focused on women are cropping up all over the country. It seems all women in business are spending their lunch time or after work hours at networking parties, connecting over wine or coffee, or sitting in front of the computer, typing messages to other business women. So, as a women entrepreneur or executive, you may be wondering: do I have to network?

You already are. Unless you are sitting in a cave, you are networking, whether that means meeting with clients, greeting business people you know when you are out and about, or calling a woman you know for advice on a business problem. But do you need to join a formal networking association? That depends on you and your needs. If you are very uncomfortable with chit chat or being in the middle of a group of people, and you find that you don’t need to formally network to advance your business, then you might not need an association. But if your business depends upon the continuous acquisition of new leads or learning new and better technology and business methods, then a networking association can be a valuable strategy for you.

Different female networking associations serve different needs. Here are a few:

Education: Some networking organizations feature speakers, workshops, and seminars on topics of interest to business women. There may or may not be a networking component at these events.

Contacts: These types of associations facilitate the exchange of information between women, putting you in touch with someone who you can help or who can help you. These can be very formal or quite informal. The speed-dating phenomenon has even touched here, with speed-networking events.

Escape: Some female networking organizations are simply places to get away from the business place, especially if that place is dominated by men. These events are usually strictly social and are a good opportunity to bond with other female entrepreneurs and executives.

Message Boards: With the proliferation of online networking sites that are developed specifically for women, the message board feature has become a popular place for women to vent, to advise, and to find someone with similar interests.

Project or Service: Service organizations founded by men for community projects or charitable projects have traditionally been potent networking groups as well. Many women have joined female service organizations to assist with humanitarian projects and have discovered the powerful networking function here as well.

Support: Women networking organizations have found a special niche with this function. To face the legendary barriers in the business world, women have developed support groups that also serve as an important networking location.

Whatever type of female networking association you decide to try, you should have some clear goals in mind. Knowing what you want to accomplish with your networking attempts will help you choose the women networking organization that will work best for you.

VoIP and the Internet: Together Making Perfection Into an Essence to Feel

Since ages, human beings have always sought out new ways to talk with each other. First there were the smoke signals and then there was Morse code. Today it is VoIP and its majestic features and therefore all humans are coming closer with the help of this technology.

The functioning of VoIP bears a strong relation to the process of sending of data across networks. Hence VoIP and the internet are two entities which are involved together in providing the best of features available in terms of communication.

The full name is a clear indication that this technology is a protocol which uses the advanced feature of voice transformation into digital signals for the purpose of making phone calls. Hence calling through VoIP occurs when voice is transformed into digital packets and these are send to the respective network destinations(the phone, PC or VoIP phone to which the call is being made). This is the network process and the physical medium being used is fibre optics. This physical medium is also another reason behind the low costs that these calls involve or even are completely free in some situations. The basic reason is that data in fibre optic cable is transmitted in its digital form and these cables can carry a larger amount of data than the traditional metal cables. Hence VoIP calling is an affordable event and is also quite fast as well as secure.

Anyone can make a VoIP call in many ways. The primary way is to use VoIP phones or normal phones which have ATA (analogue telephone adaptor) installed in them. The ATA adaptor is used for the basic purpose of making an analogue phone capable of handling digital system based calls with the help of VoIP. Then the user can also use his PC for making calls and there are a large number of VoIP softwares which have been made for this purpose and are available for download on all the VoIP service provider websites.

The internet has two facets associated with it and these are the internet and the intranet. The former is used for worldwide connectivity while the latter is used for staying connected within an organisation. If the underlying concept behind this is employed in the case of VoIP, then the business dimensions of VoIP also come into play with the presence of VoIP PBX(Private Branch Exchange) systems. VoIP and the internet hence give another marvellous feature in the feature of making businesses staying connected with all of its global offices with the help of this technology. There are hence many solutions which are available and all of them also come with a bunch of lucrative and economical features. The presence of this system which has lead to a new dimension altogether in the era of human communication is therefore fabulous.

Northwood brings families together for first carnival

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A family carnival is no small event to pull off in a school’s first year of operation, but representatives of Northwood Preschool Center’s new Parent Teacher Organization say they’re up to the task.

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