Last week I had the pleasure to attend the Ladies Who Launch(LWL) Live Event in Atlanta. Ladies Who Launch is the first new media company to provide resources and connections for women entrepreneurs. They help women start businesses that allow us to play by our own rules. Their motto is “Entrepreneurship and creativity as a lifestyle”. In the room were dozens of women who were starting a business, growing a business, or contemplating starting a business. These were women from all walks of life – older and younger.
And, if nothing else, we all learned important facts about women starting a business in these times: 1) Start up costs for many small businesses are extremely low; 2) there is more room to negotiate or barter for the help, products, or work you may need; and 3) women are launching businesses at twice the rate of men.
At the event I got to hang out with other creative, entrepreneurial women. Some of them I knew, some I met for the first time, and some were of a celebrity status to me. Here are a few of them:
- Kristen Leigh of Kleigh Creative (www.KLeighCreative.com) – Kristen is a graphic designer that I’ve known for over a year now. She designed my first One Funky Mama site. It was great chatting with her and witnessing her business growth.
Lynn Lawson and Kristen Leigh of KLeigh Creative (on right)
- Talibah Mbonisi of We Parent (www.WeParent.com) – I was fortunate to cop a seat next to Talibah and learn about her business which encourages parents who are no longer together to co-parent. We talked about possibly working together.
- Claire Jason of PZI Jeans (www.PZIJeans.com) – What a remarkable story Claire gave from the stage during the event. I’m a fan of PZI Jeans; however, I had no idea that Claire still works as a magistrate judge, while she and her husband growPZI. By the way, her husband is still keeping his job as an attorney, even though their business is growing by leaps and bounds. She says she has no desire to leave her post as a judge because she enjoys her job. What a wonderful way to live – operating in two capacities that you love!
- Victoria Colligan of Ladies Who Launch(www.LadiesWhoLaunch.com) – Fate had it that Victoria sat down briefly in the seat a couple of seats from me. So, I took this as divine intervention and asked her a question about how she launched her business in 2002. She told me she didn’t have a vision for her business and that’s why it took until 2005 for it to really become a money-making entity. She started Ladies Who Launch as an online newsletter (Hmm? Sounds familiar to me). In the four years since then, LWL has been featured all across America and has incubator programs in 25 markets throughout the U.S. Nothing great blossoms overnight! The few words we exchanged gave me a great deal of motivation to keep pushing.
If you really want to change your economic circumstances and need a support group to get you off the ground, visitwww.LadiesWhoLaunch.com to see if they have an incubator program in your city. Also, they have quite a bit of free information on their site and through their newsletter.
Starting a profitable business doesn’t have to be rocket science. There’s so much help and support for us women out there. Get out there and put your ideas into action. Now’s the time to make your life different!