Sometimes Father Knows Best

Karley Skutul has quite a few pets, to the tune of somewhere between 100,000 and 120,000.  They are bees.  And those are just the bees that live in the two hives behind her Methuen home.

Skutul, who has been harvesting and selling her own honey with her father's help since the age of 10, tends to two more hives in New Hampshire and an additional two in Maine.

Karley's business is Soothing Honey and it has become a huge part of her life.

Photo Credit: Vicki's Nature

Is Starting a Business a Way Around the Gender Gap?

Who cares about a glass ceiling?  This quote says it all:

“Being an entrepreneur doesn’t give me a glass ceiling,” said Lea Haben-Woodford, the publisher and owner of Scottsdale-based SmartFem, an online and mobile magazine for women. She said running her company in Arizona has been great, given the state’s typically warm embrace of small businesses.

Find out why women in Arizona are ditching corporate life to avoid gender gaps and starting their own businesses.  After all, as one business owner says, "there's more job security in yourself than in turning it over to a company."

Read:  For some women, starting a business is a way around gender gap

Screenshot courtesy:  SmartFem

Getting Started in Exporting With Laurel Delaney (Webinar 9/18/14)

Are you looking for new avenues of growth for your business?  Then you should consider exporting.  Please join me at a webinar I am presenting - Getting Started in Exporting.  Are You Ready? - this Thursday, September 18th at 12 p.m. ET/9 a.m. PT (plan on about an hour for the webinar).  Here are the six things I will cover:

1.  Why this is the best and easiest time ever to export!
2.  What you need to do to get your business export ready
3.  How to craft a back-of-the napkin export business plan
4.  How to create a social media and networking presence
5.  How to market your business worldwide
6.  How to use e-commerce sites as stepping-stones to export success

To learn more and to register, visit:  Export NOW 110:  Getting Started in Exporting.  Are You Ready? - Women Impacting Public Policy
(http://www.wipp.org/events/event_details.asp?id=454554)

I look forward to connecting with you on Thursday!  Please share with anyone you think might benefit from the webinar - thanks!

Photo Credit: Digimist

And The Winners of the Most Promising Women Entrepreneurs Contest Go To ...

Fortune has selected the 2014 class of Fortune Most Promising Women Entrepreneurs. These are 10 female founders of thriving, innovative, groundbreaking companies with revenue in the $1 million-to-$25 million range.

Find out who made the cut:  Fortune Most Promising Entrepreneurs

Here's a peek at one of the winners.

Photo Credit: William Marlow