1 post tagged business advice for women

Co-founded by Meryl Rosenthal and Robin Roschke, FlexPaths is a Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) certified business.

What is WBENC, you may ask?

The Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), founded in 1997, is the largest third-party certifier of businesses owned controlled, and operated by women in the United States. WBENC, a national 501(c)(3) non-profit, partners with 14 Regional Partner Organizations to provide its national standard of certification to women-owned businesses throughout the country. WBENC  is also the nation’s leading advocate of women-owned businesses as suppliers to America’s corporations.

                                                                                                          - WBENC.org 

Both Meryl and Robin were senior executives in the financial services industries before launching FlexPaths so they brought a lot of experience to the table when they started their business together. However, they have learned a lot in these past several years and offer the following advice to other women business owners…whether just launching or currently taking their business to the next level:

• Audit and upgrade your team regularly.  Don’t procrastinate as it relates to removing talent that isn’t right for your organization– in terms of culture, performance, results.  Set up all arrangements as a trial (3 months) and expect that 50% won’t make it.
• Listen to your advisors.  Invest in the best attorney, accountant, HR, insurance advisors possible and heed their advice.  Trade up as your budget and sophistication allows.
• Invest in the right marketing – being visible with your brand isn’t hard in today’s world of online and social networking.  Invest the time in having a brand and message that distinguishes your company, offerings, and reputation and rally EVERYONE to take part.
• Face the reality that women owned businesses are much less likely to get funding and yes, even the women owned investment funds are extremely challenging.  Women do not have the sustainable business networks that help bolster one another in a substantive way
• Be sure to diversify your organization, yes- with men! 

Finally, Robin adds:

One piece of advice that I heard and did follow was to make sure I had a business partner who was also someone i had a proven working relationship with.  That to go it completely alone is all but impossible.  I must say I can not imagine the journey without my co-founder and friend - and it is the synergy between us that underscores our successes as well as our ability to navigate our errors and the harsh market realities.

Meryl and Robin around the time FlexPaths was founded.

If you’re a successful woman who owns a business, what are your words of advice for other women?