Lots of Friends Can Help Your Biz Start-Up

Yesterday I gave a presentation to a group of woman owners and professionals in the local Women’s Network organization. A couple dozen women came to the lunch to dialog with me on a topic I like: “Dialog with Norma — About Your Future.” For the best part of an hour we talked about why women tend to set goals that are realistic or modest. Women don’t want to fail at anything, so they set a goal that is fairly easy.

I suggested that they consider setting an unrealistic goal, a goal that is significant; one that you may think that you could not possibly achieve. Setting this type of goal can be scary. If you tell someone, and then don’t work on it, you were just dreaming. If you tell someone and then work on it but it doesn’t get done, does that mean that you failed? Think about it – if you work on an unrealistic goal and make any progress at all, that is a significant achievement! In fact locally, in my community, there are so many owners who wanted to work on setting and making progress on an unrealistic goal that they asked me to create a regular monthly meeting time to talk together at a coffee house and have support for their efforts. This is one example of how much easier it it to accomplish something difficult if you have friends and resources during this phase of your life or your business.

So two things happened for the women who attended this lunch. First, they connected with other women owners to hear things they might not have heard or known by themselves. Secondly, they heard a story about setting unrealistic goals, and even a way to meet with like minded women who want to accomplish something bigger.

As you start your business, look in your community and find organizations that support women owners. You may find a NAWBO chapter near you. NAWBO is the National Association of Women Business Owners. Or you may find that the Chamber of Commerce has a biz women’s chamber group. Sometimes communities have a women’s network type organization that is comprised of women owners as well as women in the professions and women in corporations. Find these organizations by asking your business and reference librarian, or looking at the biz calendar in your daily/weekly newspapers. Visit and see if they are a good resource for professional development as well as a way to find talented experts in areas you may need during the growth of your business. If you are not getting enough out of the place you chose, try somewhere different; keep visiting until you find the right organization(s).

You will need lots of friends and resources as you start your business.

photo credit: {N}Duran