Any woman entrepreneur can tell you that launching a business is not so much about start-up as it is about creation. A new business is an awful lot like an infant, and its mother is just as concerned about making sure her ‘baby’ has everything it needs to grow and succeed.
For women, the process of creating a business can be highly intuitive, and they draw on their natural strengths in this area. The Creating Your Business learning guide shows women how to use intuitive insight in combination with market and other information, to develop a plan for their business that proves its viability and plots a course for its success. This is not a format-driven approach to business planning. Rather, it hinges on proactive investigation and informed design.
Very few business planning tools focus in on the development of strategies and tactics to directly address the common challenges of starting and growing a business. Creating Your Business does. It provides a means for uncovering key questions and for getting the information, resources and inspiration needed to answer them.
Some of the challenges aspiring entrepreneurs face include:
Creating Your Business is the first starting-a-business publication of its kind. It weaves together business information and applications with stories of the real-life trials, successes and learning of nine BC women entrepreneurs. In this way, it takes topics that could otherwise be complicated and intimidating, and makes them accessible.
Meet Our Storytellers
One of the best ways to learn is through the experience of others and, fortunately, women tend to be very good at sharing. The Women’s Enterprise Centre recognizes this and makes a point of bringing women together to share and learn in almost everything we do: workshops, events, programs, newsletters, booklets, and learning guides like Creating Your Business.
Volunteer storytellers have become a big part of our training and events. They span a wide range of business types, industries, locations, and experience. In Creating Your Business, they appear at critical points, describing what they’ve done, how they did it and what they learned. They have been candid and honest about their perspectives and experience, and the guide has benefited greatly from their authenticity. It takes a lot of courage to share your REAL story in public!
Anne Terwiel, Owner, Tree Line Studios & Lone Wolf Gallery at Sun Peaks Resort, Kamloops
Anne’s first business after moving to Kamloops in 1996 was a tourism training and business development consultancy. Her work in development allowed her to see opportunities for starting other businesses. The first of these, a provisioning
service, Anne opened with a partner and was soon stocking the hotel and condominium kitchens for guests at Sun Peaks before their arrival, including a fruit bowl ready and waiting on the table. After four years, Anne and her partner sold the business, and Anne moved into retail.
Now she and her husband operate three Sun Peaks businesses: Willow Tree Gifts, the Lone Wolf Gallery and Tree Line Studios. The retail businesses are family affairs that also involve the couples’ children, ages17 and 20. Anne still operates The Staff Development Company and now teaches at Thompson Rivers University’s School of Tourism. The enterprises fit together very nicely; all related to tourism, they give Anne the ability to teach from a place
of knowledge and the opportunity to keep on the cutting edge of trends and ideas.
Her advice based on what you have learned/experienced: “Be persistent. Don’t let someone tell you that you can’t do it, but at the same time, listen to good advice and make adjustments /changes that will allow you to be successful. Actively seek advice from other professionals and other successful business people, and if possible, find a mentor.”
Diana Alexander, President, Sante Skin & Laser Clinic Ltd., Terrace
Diana didn’t like working for someone else and wanted to be in charge of her own personal time, so she ramped up a home-based business offering esthetics in early 2003. “At that time the idea of opening a full service medi and day spa was only a dream – but one that wouldn’t let up until I pursued it.” She incorporated Sante in August 2004 and a year later had transformed the business into the only day and medi-spa in Northwest BC, offering health and beauty services as well as leading-edge para-medical services such as laser treatments, Botox, collagen fillers and chemical peels.
With a husband and two young children, Diana is busier than she was before starting Sante. She takes an active role in the business community and is currently a district commissioner for Girl Guides of Canada. Still, she says: “I seem to thrive on this busy life and feel I balance things equitably, so for now
I am content where I am.”
Diana’s greatest strength? “My belief in what we do at Sante. The pride I have for my company comes from having great staff with a high level of skill and great rapport with each other (I always wanted to have a workplace like that) and the fact that I really listen and learn from all my business experiences.”
Florenda Pickett, Owner, Esteem Custom Foundations,
Westbank
Florenda spent a number of years in the corporate world. When the call centre where she was a Team Manager closed and she faced limited job options, she decided to strike out on her own and work at her passion…sewing. She spent about nine months planning for the opening of her business, including completing a program for self-employment, where she translated her original idea into a plan for the business it is today.
Florenda has been in business since early 2006, making custom bras, lingerie and swimwear for women who have trouble finding sizes that fit. Florenda is a life partner, mother and grandmother, and operates her business from home.
Her one piece of advice based on what she has learned so far? “Do as much of the administration tasks and organization as you can before you open the doors,
i.e. set up books, invoicing processes, operational and marketing plans.”
Janet Leduc, President, Kinexus Consulting Inc., Vancouver
Over a number of years, Janet worked her way into a senior position with the federal government in Ottawa. When she moved to Vancouver in 1992 she saw this as an opportunity to leave the bureaucracy behind her and start a new life as a self employed consultant. Taking the leap of starting a business in a city where she had no contacts, she tapped into many of the skills she had developed over the years, and, as many consultants do, shifted to adjust to the changing marketplace, becoming somewhat of a generalist.
In early 2005, Janet decided that she wanted to be a specialist instead; she wanted to bundle her talents to create a strategic niche. She launched her new business format in February 2006. As a heritage consultant, Janet helps museum and heritage groups create and market new and exciting public programs, access partnerships and funding, and work more effectively within the community. She works as a soloist with a base of strategic partners.
Janet has three children and five grandkids scattered across the country and is looking forward to business trips that offer her some visiting opportunities.
Her advice based on what she has experienced? “If you stick with what you’re passionate about, there will be niche for you, even if there doesn’t appear to be many opportunities out there.”
Margaret Alala, Owner, Maridadi Craftz, New Westminster
Arriving in Canada and having difficulty finding work that would provide her some flexibility and embrace her interests, Margaret determined that having her own business would help stabilize her work and her income. She set up Maridadi Craftz to sell African paintings, crafts, small musical instruments and jewellery at festivals, craft fairs and other locations in the Lower Mainland. She has a few online customers in the US and eastern Canada and is beginning to cultivate wholesale customers.
Margaret has been in business since early 2004. For about the first year, she operated her business sporadically as she looked for venues to sell her products while still fulfilling commitments at a bookkeeping job. Today, she still works part-time at bookkeeping and part-time at her business.
Her advice to others starting out: “It’s important to keep in touch with people who are starting a business like you are. It’s important to talk to as many people as you can. People are very helpful and will go out of their way to volunteer information.”
Mel-Lynda Andersen, President, Publisher’s Resource Network, Langley
With experience working in the publishing sector as an editorial assistant and assistant editor, Mel-Lynda decided when she became pregnant with her first child that she did not want a typical 5-day/week job. A single mom at the time, she opened her business in April 1991, about six months after her daughter was born. Mel-Lynda works on her own, providing writing and editing services for magazine publishers and business owners (including web content, brochures, business plans, and proposals), mostly in the Fraser Valley.
Mel-Lynda now has two children, her teenage daughter and a nine-year-old son, and has been active as a volunteer for Girl Guides of Canada for the past
11 years.
Her biggest lesson while being in business for herself? “Not to under-value myself or under-estimate how long a project will take and how much it will cost my clients.”
Melody Zacharias, President, Frog and Tadpole Enterprises Inc., Kelowna
When Melody moved from Costa Rica to Kelowna, she couldn’t find work in the tech sector that matched her level of experience, so she continued the consulting practice she had started in 1999. One of her contacts saw an opportunity in the field of software encryption (a mathematical way to garble digital information such as documents and pictures so that they cannot be read). He had the technical expertise to meet the opportunity, but not the business acumen. Enter Melody
.
Together they formed Frog and Tadpole and after six months of development and four months of research and testing, launched their Gargoyle Encryption platform in January 2006.
Clients include government, law and accounting firms, and individuals. Sales so far have been from as far away as England and Afghanistan. Her advice based on what she has learned? “Make connections, ask questions and listen to everyone. Don’t be scared to ask for help or admit that you don’t know something.”
Nicole Lamac, Principal/ Creative Director, Mission Media, Victoria
Formerly a communications specialist for a consulting firm in the tech industry, Nicole spent about a year talking to successful entrepreneurs, thinking and planning, and working with a mentor before she struck out on her own in
October 2002. Mission Media provides design (web/print),branding, writing and photography services, primarily to small-to-mid-sized businesses and a few larger corporate clients in Canada and the U.S.
Nicole is a spouse and hopefully a future mom. She works from home…or anywhere she can catch a wireless signal.
How has her business changed since she started? “My client base is broader and steadier. From a service delivery standpoint, I also feel as if I’m more confident in my ability to be both a creative person and a business person.”
Stephanie Gorrell, Owner, Umeboshi, Vancouver
Stephanie first started thinking about opening a boutique shoe store in 2000 while living in London, England. She wanted to be an entrepreneur, enjoyed shopping at boutique stores in Europe and thought a similar concept would work in Vancouver. Umeboshi carries a diverse selection of unique fashion footwear for men and women rich in style, quality, and design.
After completing an entrepreneurial program at one of the local colleges,
Stephanie opened Umeboshi’s doors in a funky shopping district on Main Street in September 2005.
How has her business changed over time? “We sell more of our high-end shoes than I imagined we would. Many loyal customers love the quality of hand-made footwear and enjoy wearing shoes that aren’t commonplace in the market. We are sourcing more original brands each season that aren’t seen in Vancouver.”
The Creating Your Business learning guide is one of a series of five learning guides published by Women’s Enterprise Centre. Other guides are: Financial Understanding, Financial Management, Focused Marketing and Moving Forward: Strategic Planning.