Star of the event was entrepreneur, Lucie Trinco, who revealed the secrets behind her successful business, Il Tutto.

Walking into Sydney’s VIVO Cafe, I was warmly welcomed by Samantha Dybac, Head of the League’s NSW branch. I saw women enjoying themselves – networking over breakfast, discussing current affairs and exchanging business ideas.

Founded by young entrepreneurs, Sarah Riegelhuth and Sheryl Thai, in 2011, the League’s mission was to bring young women together in a friendly, welcoming space and to help them pursue their business ideas and goals – whether they’re experienced or budding entrepreneurs or just those aspiring to start a business in the future.

Every six weeks, the League hosts a breakfast meeting, featuring a successful businesswoman who shares the highs and lows of her entrepreneurial journey, and the most valuable lessons learned along the way.

Lucie Trinco of Il Tutto

Lucie Trinco, the entrepreneurial brains behind Il Tutto, was the key speaker at the League’s latest breakfast meeting.

With over 20 years of experience in designing handbags, Trinco spotted a gap in the Australian marketplace for luxury baby bags for style-conscious mothers.

After noticing a high demand for baby bags that are both stylish and practical, Trinco decided to design her own range.

Six years in business, Trinco has enjoyed remarkable success, both locally and internationally, with celebrities like Dannii Minogue, Miranda Kerr and Cate Blanchett being spotted carrying her designs.

She acknowledged that her work as Head of Design at Oroton opened many doors for her and helped make the start-up process easier.

Not only did she go into business with extensive knowledge of the retail industry, but also with ready access to supply chains.

But it hasn’t all been smooth sailing. The biggest challenge she faces, even today, is managing cash flow.

With Il Tutto growing so rapidly, it has been a struggle for Trinco to cash flow that growth.

The reason for this, she said, was that retailers often send orders triple of what they forecasted, and that manufacturers want money in advance whereas retailers pay 30-60 days after delivering orders.

Trinco’s top tips for entrepreneurs:

1. Know your niche. 
   Clearly identify who your end customer is and how to communicate with them effectively. The consumer landscape is challenging, so developing the right strategy and delivering it in a tailored manner is crucial.
2. Know your competitors.
   Find out what your competitors do well, and find something that they don’t do so well and make that your point-of-difference.
3. Write a business plan and review it regularly.
   Make sure your business plan includes your mission statement and a breakdown of how you will reach your business goals – i.e. production, marketing, distribution, etc. Make sure to review your business plan and make updates.
4. Have your supply ready.
   You need to be proactive about your supply. There’s nothing worse than promising and failing to deliver.
5. Use your networks.
   Bloggers are an excellent resource for brand advocacy. They provide a more personal and relatable voice and are trusted by their audience.
6. Build relationships with the media.
   Engaging with media practitioners will help gain editorial coverage and increase brand awareness. This also means you need to have professional photos ready.
7. Ask for advice.
   Get experts to advise you on areas that aren’t your strengths – you don’t always need to figure it all out by yourself.
8. Use celebrity endorsements.
   Celebrities are style influencers. Consumers are more likely to try a product a celebrity uses.
9. Make sure your staff know about the brand and product.
   Big retailers often struggle to provide satisfactory customer service, so it’s important you use that to your advantage and make sure your staff are fully trained about the brand and product and know how to deliver quality customer service.
10. Be responsive to customers.
    Be attentive to complaints and make sure you are always vigilante in answering questions as quickly as possible.

To find out more about the League of Extraordinary Women, visit their website.

If your business is not online, then you do not exist to the millions of people looking for products and services that you can deliver. If you are online but your website and social media is not driving results, it’s time to learn how to have the Internet working hard for you 24 hours a day.

For many small businesses, taking a business online, and using the Internet effectively to drive business, is easier said than done.

The new Taking Your Small Business Online course, presented over two structured and professionally-facilitated online lessons, will bring you up to speed on what it takes to have an effective Internet presence, the essentials of a great website and how to integrate social networks into your business toolkit easily and without spending a lot of money.

Regardless of whether your online presence is designed to support an offline business, or if you want to start an Internet business, you’ll be equipped to harness the power of the Internet and social networks to grow your business.

In two 90-minute sessions (available both live and on-demand), you’ll discover:

How to Create a Great Website

• The seven essential elements of a good website.
• How to build and promote your website.
• Is your website name working for you or driving away traffic?
• How to make the search engines love you!

Get Social – Make the Most of Social Media

-       Social media – making it pay off.

-       Integrating social media with your website and business goals.

-       Business directories and other sites to list your business on for referral traffic.

-       Location-based applications that drive community engagement.

-       Getting your business found by your customers.

The competition closes on Sunday — enter here.

For more details, visit The Australian Businesswomen’s Network.

The research, conducted by Regus, surveyed over 26 000 business people around the world about attitudes towards working mothers.

“There is a strong case for the greater inclusion of returning mothers in the workforce, and this issue urgently needs to be addressed,” says Jacqueline Lehmann, country head of Regus Australia.

This research comes after a recent ABS report showed there are over a quarter of a million Australians looking after children who are actively looking for work, with 94 percent of them mothers.

With almost 60 percent of business respondents also saying that hiring returning mothers helps improve productivity within business, what are Australian companies missing out on?

“In Australia, estimates show GDP could increase by 13 percent, or $180 billion, if male and female participation rates were matched. The economy could benefit from sustained growth and it would help bridge the skills gap across genders,” says Lehmann.

However, despite the value working mothers add to the workforce, there’s still much that can be done to make the transition back to the office easier.

“Women come across obstacles to balancing childcare with work-life, and as a result the workforce continues to lose able and trained workers with key skills and qualifications,” says Lehmann.

As well as more flexibility, over 80 percent of respondents believe mothers need crèche facilities near their workplace, while flexibility to choose video conferencing over travel also a key factor in encouraging more women to return to work.

Above all, the research showed that changes to workplace habits are desired over more rest days, with just 49 percent of respondents indicating more vacation days would encourage more women to return to the workforce.

Jill McCarthy has returned to Aussie Pooch Mobile, where she was one of the first franchisees to join in 1993.

“Working with dogs was my dream job. Every day brought something new and I got to know and love each dog like it was my own. There was never a day I didn’t look forward to going to work,” says Jill.

After joining in the ’90s, Jill grew her business to the point where she was able to sell off half.

In that time, she became a trainer and on-road support person, and also featured in training videos for the company.

Due to health reasons, Jill made the decision to leave Aussie Pooch in 2002, but kept finding jobs with dogs and other animals.

“Over the years I did several courses and became a qualified canine massage therapist and obedience instructor, and qualified as an odour detection dog handler, which was incredible,” says Jill.

Jill worked for Biosecurity Queensland for almost 4 years on the Red Imported Fire Ant Eradication Program, where she was responsible for the transport, care, and deployment of two fire ant detection dogs.

“I also trained my own dog Shelby to locate horse shoes in an open paddock, as quite often the horse would lose one shoe, so Shelby would find it for me, because those things were expensive to replace!”

Jill also worked in the equine therapy industry, but through charity and other volunteer work, she was never far from Aussie Pooch and jumped at the chance to return full time.

With Aussie Pooch now counting over 200 other franchisees around the world, Jill is coming back to a business where 65 percent of franchisees are women.

She says, “I honestly feel like I’ve come home. While I am finding it challenging, as things have changed a lot in ten years, with new services and techniques, it’s just as rewarding as I remember.”

While technology has traditionally been considered a ‘male domain’, the Westpac Group’s latest study of 1500 Australians (1000 women and 500 men) revealed that women are embracing technology ahead of their male peers, with more women (11 percent) managing their finances using a smartphone than men (4 percent).

“We, women, are very passionate about our money, and we want instant access to our financial information. So whatever device will get us that information quickly, we will use,” said Larke Riemer, Westpac Director of Women’s Markets.

The research found that younger generations of women in particular are embracing the benefits of using  mobile technology, with 30 percent of women aged under 30 using a smartphone to do their banking compared with just 9 percent aged 30 and over.

“It is great to see the younger generation of women rapidly adopting mobile technology to do their banking and socialise online. I’d like to see more women over 30 beginning to feel more comfortable in this space,” said Riemer.

When asked how technology has impacted day-to-day life, some of the responses from women surveyed included easier access to information (86 percent), connecting with other people at any time (76 percent), saving time and/or money (75 percent) and managing finances more easily (75 percent). Of the women who thought technology has made managing their finances easier, 79 percent believed this was due to 24-hour access to their bank accounts via mobile technology.

While this research reinforces that women are no longer restricted by their gender in the world of technology, the paradoxes of tradition still remain, with many people still making remarks that are reflective of stereotypical views of women.

“There are a lot of people out there making remarks like  ‘women want to get access to credit cards so they can spend on shoes’, but the truth is, women want to see where their money is so they can make the best of their money. It isn’t about spending or maxing out on credit cards,” said Riemer.

The emergence of online banking and mobile technology have provided women with the opportunity for empowerment and more importantly, to not feel restricted by their gender when it comes to dealing with money.

“This research on women and technology is proving that today, no matter how women are choosing to live their lives, nothing is holding them back. The female economy in this world is powerful,” said Riemer.

For more information on the findings of the study, visit Ruby Connection, Westpac’s interactive online community designed to inspire, educate, promote and connect Australian women.

Six successful female entrepreneurs from a wide variety of industries joined Dynamic Business editor Rhiannon Sawyer to discuss issues ranging from managing the work/life balance to what is success.

Each woman shared their extensive experience with the group and has offered their own personal advice for women thinking of getting started in the world of business. Kim Liddell, owner of Non-Destructive Excavations Australia joined managing director and co-founder of BlueChip Communication, Carden Calder, along with Andrea Culligan, CEO and owner of The Unimail Group, Jacqueline Arias, director of Republica Coffee, Jo Burston, managing director and founder of Job Capital and Vanessa Stoykov, CEO and founder of Evolution Media Group.

The issues discussed included the importance of networking for female entrepreneurs, and each woman shared their positive experiences in belonging to entrepreneur organisations and women’s business groups.

Jo Burston talked about her membership of Entrepreneur’s Organisation and the Commonwealth Bank’s Women in Focus initiative. “There’s a 20 percent contingent of women in EO in Sydney, and other than Auckland that’s one of the highest globally. So that’s pretty strong female perspective on things that will in turn affect the male membership.”

Jacqueline Arias mentioned how she valued the experiences that networking groups gave her in terms of what it also offered her staff. “One of my staff said to me, you come and share things that we would never have access to. The network isn’t about the personal it’s about what you can share from your learnings.”

Networking was also important for Kim Liddell. “Working in these businesses and being an entrepreneur can be a very solitary thing, and if you don’t reach out to a network or an organisation, what do you do? Where do you go?”

Interestingly, every woman also had a different perspective on what it meant to be successful, and how they defined their success. Carden Calder said it was about hitting the numbers. “We are a financial services communications business that survived the GFC and for me that was the most  frustrating  year in business when I couldn’t hit the numbers – it drove me mad. So for me it’s hitting numbers, it’s the way we benchmark ourselves. It’s hitting milestones in the business, reaching certain achievements.”

Though financial success certainly played a part, for most women it wasn’t the main focus. Vanessa Stoykov said,  ”Money  isn’t necessarily the biggest indicator of success. I think if you have a good idea and it takes off, then money will come. I think it’s proving that we were right. I think that showing that the niche works is the way to measure success.”

Each woman was also passionate about sharing their advice with other women and girls thinking about becoming entrepreneurs. Burston recommended knowing what the end point was before you got started.

“The questions that I ask a start-up is are you buying yourself a job, are you dissatasified with where you’re currently working, or is it that you have a burning passion to solve a big problem  and do you have the leadership skills to get it going? How are you going to attract people that have the mentality of doing whatever it takes, vs what can they do best, and can you make tough decisions and do you have a higher purpose? Starting with the mission and the why you’re doing what you’re doing is the very first point.”

Liddell recommended knowing the industry inside out. “Doing the research, knowing your customer, knowing who they are, what sort of person they are, what the problem is you’re facing and knowing it intimately. The research is key. Throwing yourself into a business or an industry or a niche market that you know nothing about could be a recipe for disaster.”

For Arias, it was about having the passion to keep you going. “How passionate  are you about this, how committed are you to do this, is it your dream to do this, becase if it’s not, you’re going to give up very easily. The amount of knockbacks, the amount of walls you’re going to hit, not only exernally but in your business is going to knock you over so you really have to have purpose and mission and vision and passion for it and that’s what gets you up every day.”

Culligan recommended being fit is key to success. “Being physically fit, during times of resilience for me is essential. You’ve got t-, it’s like sleep. I’m back at the gym now seven days a week and by the time I’ve come out, I’ve watched Ellen and it’s great, I’ve got a new perspective.”

“Self belief is so important,” added Calder. “If you don’t have enough of it yourself, go find someone who’s going to give it to you. That’s a really pivotal thing. It might be your partner, it might be your best friend or a mentor it might be someone you pay to tell you you’re great. It doesn’t matter. But there are days in any  entrepreneur’s life, and I think women are particularly good at beating themselves up, when you think I don’t think I can do this, and to have that external perspective, and go from one day to the next, you need someone to say you are amazing, you’ve only reached 50 percent of your potential. That is such an empowering message and finding the person who can say that to you is really important.”

Women from very different walks of life will gather together to discuss issues that  concern female business owners from all industries this week. The roundtable event, hosted by BlueChip Communications and Dynamic Business will bring together female entrepreneurs to discuss topics around the theme, ‘what makes a successful female entrepreneur?’

Some of the participants attending will include Jacqueline Arias, director of Republica Coffee, Jo Burston, managing director and founder of Job Capital and Carden Calder, managing director and co-founder of BlueChip Communication.

Participants at the event will be sharing their ideas, thoughts and experiences and Dynamic Business will be there to cover the action, live on Twitter. Be sure to follow the event on Twitter, or feel free to comment below if you’d like to see any particular issues addressed.

Dynamic Business spoke to Carden Calder prior to the event about how she started her business and what’s important to her as an entrepreneur.

How did you get started in your business:
A: We saw a gap in the market for financial services communicators who really knew the wealth management industry. At the time we started in 2004, we could find great PR consultants, but they just didn’t know wealth management well enough to be up and running quickly.

Q: What kind of growth is your business enjoying?
A: We’re pleased to say we’ve had double digit growth every year since we’ve started, with the exception of 2009.

Q: Most challenging thing about your industry?
A: The most challenging thing about out industry is getting ahead of the game in terms of technology and social media.

Q: How are you working to overcome this?
A: By rapidly upskilling out team, practising what we preach internally, and investing significantly in learning from offshore what the market leaders are doing, because we know Australia is a laggard in some respects when it comes to social media and content marketing.

Q: What is the biggest lesson you’re learnt in your career so far?
A: The biggest lesson I’ve learnt in my career so far is to recruit very, very carefully, hire only the best, reward them well, and create a culture that A Players want to be part of.

Q: Tell us more about any new ventures?
A: Under wraps for now. Tell you more later!

Q: Entrepreneurs that you look up to?
A: I look up to my friends Jo Burston who runs Job Capital, and Naomi Simson of Red Balloon among others. Both of them have taken a scaleable business idea to build something their market needed but that no one else had managed to deliver before. They are both clever entrepreneurs, compassionate friends and always looking for the next opportunity.

Q: Tips to people starting new businesses?
A: Do your research, be realistic about your skills and make sure there is a real market opportunity. Self awareness is a valuable commodity, and it’s worth making sure you really understand what you’re good at and what you’re not, so you know what to hire in, and where you need advice. All businesses these days are technology businesses, so understand which new technologies could boost or wipe out your business. Build with that platform in mind, but always keep an eye on what’s coming up.

Q: Advice for other entrepreneurs or aspiring entrepreneurs?
A: I’d say if you’re eligible, join something like the Entrepreneurs’ Organisation (EO). Without it, my business wouldn’t be where it is today.

Q: What’s next for you?
A: Looking forward to significant growth in 2013, and to pioneering content marketing in financial services.

The next Federal election will be held on September 14.

“I can act to clear away the carry on that comes with speculation about when the election will be held and I can create an environment in which the nations eyes are focussed on the policies, not the petty politics. So today I announce that I will advise the Governor General to dissolve the House of Representatives and to issue writs on Monday the 12th of August for an election for the House and half of the Senate to be held on Saturday the 14th September.”

Gillard went on to joke that she didn’t intend for the nation to be caught up in the longest campaign in history, but rather to distinguish between days of governing and days of campaigning. “Announcing the election date now enables individuals and business, investors and consumers to plan their year.”

Colin Porter, managing director of Creditorwatch, said this announcement would have an effect on small business by impacting on their cashflow. “Big business especially those with government contracts will be reviewing their exposure if there is a change of government and the impact this may have on their business. This generally means that major decisions could be placed on hold pending the election outcome, causing a trickle down effect on smaller businesses. It’s prudent that companies should monitor their existing customer credit and payment terms for any change in pattern and act upon any change promptly.”

Small business should also take this opportunity to contact their local MPs, says Yolanda Vega, Chief Executive of the Australian Women Chamber of Commerce & Industry. “[The announcement offers] an opportunity to ensure politicians take note of the majority. This gives SMEs plenty of time to deliver their message to their local Member of Parliament (MP) and allow for women to get together and deliver a united voice of what is needed at all levels: tax reforms, childcare and more.”

Vega believes this is the time that small business should ensure their voice is heard. “Unfortunately lobby groups representing small business are poorly funded and therefore don’t have the resources the big end of town has to promote their cause. However, SMEs make up the majority of businesses in Australia and it’s about time we all get together to ensure the majority is not again forgotten and provided with more broken promises, as we have seen in the past.

“The Australian Women Chamber of Commerce & Industry will continue to work to ensure women business owners are able to do business in an equitable space without gender based barriers; this includes procuring contracts from government.

“We need visionaries that understand that women are big contributors to the economy and that if we tap into this under-utilised resource it will benefit all Australians for generations to come; our economy and our communities.”

“Coaching is about moving people forward. We help people identify where the potential is for success in their life, and assist them in achieving the outcomes that they want. But it is also about reframing people’s experiences of adversity so that they no longer limit them,” explains Geraldine Moran, founder of OzSpectrum Success Coaching.

It is this very philosophy that guided Moran in her professional life. After working as a solicitor, she decided that the legal profession was not for her.
In the midst of a career change, however, she was diagnosed with cancer.

“That was a life challenge in itself- to pick myself up, and know that I could survive and move forward,” Moran explains.

But surviving her bout with cancer gave Moran resilience, along with a newfound sense of purpose. “A life-threatening event like that can really focus you on what you want to achieve in life. And for me, that was a real turning point,” she explains.

People had always found it easy to talk to her and establish rapport– and this was something that she began to value. Throughout her recovery, she used this skill to support other cancer patients and help motivate others.

“What I had previously denied as a valuable skill­ was something that I really began to focus on and develop. I realised the power in having people open up to you. And that really led me to establish OzSpectrum” she explains.

Establishing a business with no prior entrepreneurial experience brought with it a new set of challenges. “Struggling to find clients presented a real challenge, and really made me doubt myself at times,” Moran confesses.

However, she was willing to admit that she was out of her depth and when she asked for help, she found that she received it.

Moran joined a Business International Group, which met once a week, and a local life-coaching network that helped her with some of the day-to-day difficulties of coaching.

“I listened to similar professionals, and asked questions. If there was somebody that I really respected, I’d find out how they’d set up their business and what they had done. By talking to people who were years ahead of me, I was able gain invaluable advice,” Moran explains.

If she could have her time again, she says she wouldn’t do anything differently. “The biggest challenges were often the ones that gave me most direction, in terms of establishing a life-coaching venture,” she says.

“The only thing I would have liked would have been to find that confidence in myself sooner. I found that even as a coach, I doubted my ability. But when you let go of that doubt, it allows people to approach you and really open up,” Moran says.

For entrepreneurs struggling to establish themselves, Moran offers three tips:

1. Find the confidence in yourself.

2. Ask for help- and don’t be afraid to ask.

3. Find mentors- people who you respect and admire. If you can’t talk directly to them, then at least read as much as you can about them. Learn from their successes.

More than 2,900 women were surveyed about various business topics and over 44 percent of respondents said they want more assistance with advertising and marketing.

AWCCI, CEO, Yolanda Vega says with over 1 million women trading in business more education is needed to assist them.

“We understand that education has the power to change the future, hence why we are running marketing workshops to educate the fastest growing sector of our economy, and preparing for tomorrow,” she said.

Vega said the workshops will offer attendees the opportunity to walk away with all the information they need about advertising, PR, branding and sales for their strategic marketing plan.

“A marketing plan would normally cost thousands of dollars which is why so many businesses don’t have one and fail,” explains Vega.

“Providing the education on how to build a strategic marketing plan will assist many businesses keep their doors open, their business running and prevent our economy from following in the footsteps of so many in the USA and Europe,” she added.

Heat Group founder and one of the event speakers, Gillian Franklin stresses the importance of a marketing strategy.

“A marketing strategy is not a ‘set and forget’ plan, it’s a living plan, one that constantly evolves and should be across the entire business,” she said.

Naked Communications co-founder and consumer psychologist, Adam Ferrier believes marketing is about  understanding consumer behaviour and the marketing triggers needed to change it.

“Business are always asking ‘how can I get my consumer to buy my product’, ‘like me on Facebook’, ‘recommend us to a friend’, and so on,” he said.

“Considering the majority of women business owners are in service industries, it is important for them to understand their potential consumers as well as how to change their own behaviour when running a business,” he added.

Ferrier will discuss how to change behaviours using ‘salacious examples’ at the Melbourne workshop on October 22^nd.

The workshops will be held in Melbourne on Monday October 22^nd and Sydney on Tuesday October 23^rd, 2012 from 10am to 3pm and bookings can be made online.

The perception that women are more intuitive and less rational than men is as old as history itself. Despite this, managerial psychologists are either divided on the matter or ignore it completely. However, my recent research interviewing Australian CEOs, directors and chairs about intuition use goes a long way to explaining this perception. Rather than suggesting that women have better intuition or are more intuitive, my findings show that women, in general, are more orientated to their feelings and intuitions, and are thus more likely to acknowledge, trust and rely their intuitions – and talk about them.

As I have previously described for Dynamic Business, in-depth interviews with 38 of our top leaders showed that they all use intuition frequently and consider it very important to their decision-making and leadership. However, a major component of my Ph.D. research was to also explain why they don’t talk about it. According to numerous international studies, intuition tends to be a silent or private practice. The results of my research were both surprising and ground-breaking. As would be expected, I found that intuition is not talked about in part because business decisions need to be justified to stakeholders. There is an expectation to provide rationale and evidence to justify important decisions. Intuitions are not defensible – by definition intuition is non-rational (as opposed to irrational). Intuition is also regarded by some as esoteric and non-scientific. Unless leaders own their organisation or have a strong enough track record – like Richard Branson, Steve Jobs and Jack Welch (whom all spoke about their intuition) – most leaders would be unwilling to attribute an important decision solely to a gut-feeling. However, it also became apparent in the first few interviews that there was another important reason why intuition is more likely to be associated with women – because they are more willing and able to talk about it.

This discovery came about through analysing the responses to one question – ‘How does it feel when you get an intuition – what is your subjective experience”? I found there was a stark difference between the way men and women answered this question (an observation that led me to recruit an equal number of men and women). Many of the male participants were uncomfortable with this question about their feelings. Some gave minimal responses and some avoided the question by changing the subject. I had the impression that many thought such a question was unusual, even strange or inappropriate, or just hard to answer. One chairman of a major organisation indicated his discomfort by tapping his fingers on the arm of his chair so loudly it was later audible on the recording. On the other hand, all the women in the study seemed comfortable answering and gave thoughtful and eloquent replies, often using metaphors. The women in the study demonstrated a greater orientation to their feelings through their willingness and ability to express them. This finding was mirrored on the experience of one CEO:

I’ve got a 50/50 split in my executive team.  And it creates some difficulty because the women want to talk about what they’re feeling and experiencing… the blokes… (suppressing mirth) get very irritated… because they don’t.

Orientation to feelings is important for intuition disclosure because intuition is a feeling of knowing. It also has consequences for how decision making is done. For example, one woman said that in difficult decision making circumstances, she put time aside to allow her feelings to come foreward:

You still yourself and you wait for the inner turmoil to settle …  like stirring up the mud in a pond … and if you just sit with it, it’ll settle, and you can be clear about what it is that you are experiencing …

On the other hand, men are less likely to explore what they feel and, in relation to intuition disclosure, are more likely to ascribe their gut feelings to ‘experience’ and ‘judgement’. While intuition does come from experience, and is involved in judgement, such terms mask the role of gut-feelings and represent an orientation to exterior action rather than interior receptivity.

On the basis of these findings I argue that it is not that women have better intuition or are more intuitive. I suggest that women are more connected to their intuition through their willingness and ability to engage with their inner world – they have a greater interiority. I found studies that backed up my findings. It seems that men are more comfortable with talking about ‘exterior’ things – the footy, cars, real estate, machines and technology. Women, on the other hand, are more likely to want to talk about relationships, what happened in them and how it made them feel. Men are less inwardly orientated in general, but not exclusively – we are all individuals.

Context is very important because the brain is plastic and changes in harmony to circumstance and activity. For example, in 1923, one of the founding members and first president of the American Psychological Association, said that intuition works on a “lower plane of intellectuality exhibited by some who have limited powers of abstractive thinking, most notably women, young children and dogs”. However, girls now are equal to, or outperform boys in maths and science, as a result of better opportunities and different expectations in education (at least in most of the West). Similarly, men who spend a lot of time in careers which require good connection to feelings – like acting, child care and nursing – show a greater inward orientation through a better ability to perceive and talk about their feelings, and those of others. There has also been a generational shift as young men benefit from the post-feminist redefinition of masculinity as well as more conscious and educated parenting. However, the leaders of Australia’s largest and therefore most influential organisations are older men (only 2 percent are women). As Melbourne Uni’s Professor Amanda Sinclair’s points out, the result can be a culture of ‘masculinities’. This is illustrated well in the words of one male participant:

But I would have to have gone to XXXX and say – look, all of it looks good on paper and the objective facts are that we’ve got to support this position, but having looked at all of that, and on the basis of my intuition about these people, I don’t think it’s the right thing for us – they would have said – go and have counselling will you!

I think men’s intuition is just as good as women’s – intuition is a human faculty after all – just as much as IQ. Men just need to learn to acknowledge it, tune in to it, talk about it, and make the most of it.

In addressing the issue, the Australian Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry (AWCCI) is calling for a mandate to ensure female business owners have access to government contracts in order to allow them to contribute to the economy.

AWCCI CEO, Yolanda Vega says governments must use their purchasing power to support the one million women business owners, many of whom are corporate refugees.

“They don’t have access to markets, they can’t access capital and they don’t have access to government contracts,” she said.

Vega says that there is no data available in Australia to determine what percentage of federal, state or local government contracts have been obtained by female business owners.

“We know that this information is crucial to economic growth and when collected, it will help measure the growth and worth of SMEs,” she said.

APEC data found rising economic participation correlates with significant growth as women are more likely to invest in improving health, education and infrastructure.

The World Bank confirms that an increase in women’s financial independence and social standing has a direct impact on the welfare of future generations.

“If Australian governments at all levels implement these two initiatives, women’s participation in Australia’s commercial sector would be radically revolutionised,” Vega said.

The AWCCI Issues Paper recommends that governments at all levels set an initial target of 5 percent in the award of contracts to women-owned SMEs with annual reviewal.

It also recommends that governments and their agencies start collecting sex desegregated data to learn which businesses are procuring the billions worth of contracts awarded to SMEs.

Vega believes establishing and reaching targets with a mandate across all agencies is an appropriate step towards increasing women’s participation in the procurement process to contribute to economic growth.

“Women make 80 percent of consumer decisions. If they don’t have access to capital, they can’t spend. If women stop spending, our economy will come to a dead halt. That’s the reality,” she said.

“If women don’t have access to contracts, they can’t grow their business and taxpayers will have to support hundreds of thousands now in danger of living below the poverty line,” she added.

Less than 20 percent of women have tendered for a government contract according to AWCCI research.

“With this ground-breaking Australian research, the AWCCI can advocate for programs and policies to ensure women business owners and female entrepreneurs are able to maximise their contribution to our nation’s economic growth,” Vega said.

The free online event, to be held from August 27-29, will hosted by entrepreneur Cas McCullough. As founder of the Ipswitch business Mumatopia, McCullough understands the limiting beliefs that can prevent women from achieving their personal and business goals.

“I’ve found, from my own experience, that women entrepreneurs are more likely to underestimate and undervalue themselves. By saying “I know I can only earn so much”, they really limit their potential. Those are the thoughts that I want to change,” she told Dynamic Business.

The telesummit will feature 9 inspiring women from across the globe who have singlehandedly grown their business, on their own terms. Each of the speakers will share practical tips that soloists can take away and put into practice immediately.

“We wanted to reach women in different parts of the world with different points of view, which is why we’ve included such diverse speakers. We’ve got women who are doing amazing things on the ground, as well as women with six to seven figure businesses,” said McCullough.

“We don’t want to overwhelm people with ‘rags to riches’ stories because, while they’re great, they can also make things seem really unattainable. We want women to really be able to say “I can do this”, she explained.

While each of the speakers are diverse in background, their advice is intended to be globally applicable.

“I don’t think it matters whether you run a small craft business and work the local markets, or whether you want to grow into a larger corporation further down the track. Somebody will be able to take something out of every talk, and apply it to their business,” McCullough assured.

The telesummit is the first event of this magnitude that the Mumatopia founder has organised- a task which didn’t come without its doubts.

“I thought, ‘I’m not a millionaire, who am I to be running something like this?’ But the truth is, I work from home like a lot of the women that we’re reaching out to through the telesummit. So I had to say, ‘Well why not me? Why can’t I do this?’ And there was absolutely no reason why I couldn’t do this successfully. It comes back to those limiting thoughts, and the need to overcome them,” McCullough explained.

“We want more women to succeed and, at the end of the day, we want them to see success on their terms. It’s not just about doing well financially, or breaking through the glass ceiling. It’s about inspiring women to realise their potential, in a way that fits in with the life that they want to live,” she added.

When Isaacs bought Business Chicks in 2007 it had a community of 250 members, which she’s grown to a figure of 25,800 since. She saw a gap in the highly crowded women’s networking space and filled it with her famed country-wide event program. Members have signed up in droves to be part of the Business Chicks community, enjoying access to speakers like Sir Richard Branson, Olivia Newton-John, Dannii Minogue, Ita Buttrose, Deborra-lee Furness and Sir Bob Geldof.

But Business Chicks is no longer just an events business. Isaacs has evolved her organisation into a media and content business that enjoyed 157 percent growth in 2011, and looks set to see the similar growth again this year.

Isaacs’ quiet self-assuredness and entrepreneurial spirit has allowed her to build a rock-solid company in just half a decade, and she’s sharing her proudest achievements and most challenging moments with Dynamic Business.

Q.  What were a couple of the initial challenges you faced in getting it off the ground? How did you overcome these?

When I first started Business Chicks I was exiting out of my first company (a recruitment firm) but for a while I attempted to run both companies at the same time. I’d get up before the sun, race to the office and sit on the floor processing ticket sales through the EFTPOS terminal or trying to convince a speaker to grace our stage. As my recruitment team trickled in for the day, I’d switch gears to the other business and when the day was finished I’d start working on Business Chicks again.

Working like that wasn’t sustainable, nor was it particularly enjoyable as I wasn’t being supported by my business partner at the time – rightly so I guess! It was a relief when I sold my first business and had the opportunity to focus solely on Business Chicks.

Q. You’ve never worked for anyone else – where do you think your entrepreneurial qualities come from?

I think true entrepreneurs are born, not made. You’re either going to be comfortable with a lot of risk – you’ll be willing to put your house on the line for a new business, perhaps take a leap of faith and do something that no one else has done – or you’re going to find it hard to bridge the gap between security and the unknown.

I’m not sure where it came from with me. My Mum’s a teacher and my Dad’s an accountant, but I’ve always been comfortable with not knowing what’s around the corner and had a kind of self-assuredness that I’ll be able to navigate through whatever’s thrown at me.

Q. What’s your proudest business achievement to date?

The relationships I have with my team and the culture we’ve been able to create. My general manager Amber has been with me since day one and Olivia who heads up our brand and partnerships team has worked with me for over eight years now, first in the recruitment company and now at Business Chicks.

The experience of working with Business Chicks is incredibly fulfilling, to be able to work in a fast-growth entrepreneurial business that inspires many people is exhilarating. We achieved 157 percent growth last year and are on target to do similar figures this year. We have a no-nonsense approach to business and we just get stuff done. There’s no room for politics, drama or excuses – we’re a business that instills personal accountability in our people and I expect excellence and value effort.

Q. What do you find to be the most challenging thing about running your business?

I’m sure my challenges are no different to most entrepreneurs. It’s finessing the resources within the business and constantly assessing whether we have the right talent in the right roles and how to maximise the intelligence within the organisation. We’re a modern business with opportunities to be pulled in lots of different directions, so the challenge is to keep my team focused on our goals and inspired by our vision.

Q. You have a lot to do with women in business (obviously!), are there any you find particularly inspiring?

Facebook’s COO Sheryl Sandberg is an outstanding operator as is Ariana Huffington of the Huffington Post. Locally it’d be three of my closest girlfriends; Maria Sipka who’s running a start-up in Silicon Valley, Narelle Anderson who’s dominating the reverse vending/recycling industry here with Envirobank, and Naomi Simson from RedBalloon.

Q. If you could offer one piece of advice to aspiring entrepreneurs, what would it be?

Don’t just start up a business because you’re convinced it’s a good idea. Test it, sure, but be prepared to walk away if it’s never going to go anywhere. And work non-stop on your network – helping others, promoting others, doing favours, being generous – that what gets you known and respected, and reputation is absolutely everything.

The magazine was media partner of last year’s Small Business September and an event we hosted was so popular it booked out within six hours, prompting us to hold a further event at the end of this month. It is not yet known if that will still go ahead.

Editor Jen Bishop said: “Small Business September is the only events program of its kind specifically for small business in New South Wales. I have seen for myself how popular the events are and it concerns me that these are being cut with no consultation.

“Small Business September was particularly good at providing small business events out in the regions. It has always been a month of celebration and recognition of the contribution small business makes to the community as well as a great time to educate business owners on the latest topics to help them grow their businesses. It does not seem to send the message that NSW Government supports these people who are the lifeblood of our economy. I will be interested to hear what they intend to replace these popular programs with.”

Small business owner Hazel Theocharous said: “It is against everything that the government should be standing for – what is happening for small business? The Women in Business Mentoring program which is an absolute godsend for new business owners who need guidance and assurance that they can take their business to the next level,”

“They are also cutting the September Small Business month? Why? This is an amazing month where so many businesses offer amazing free or cost-effective information to new or existing business owners wishing to learn something new or take their business to another level using the one platform,” Theocharous said.

“We get get a new Small Business Commissioner and then we lose so many amazing initiatives. We need to work together to ensure that the most important initiatives already around for us, remain around,” she added.

Dynamic Business is seeking comment from the office of Small Business Commissioner Yasmin King, who was appointed last year, and we will update this story as soon as we can.

Rewind to mid January, 2011 and more than 60 communities across Queensland are affected by devastating floods. Ipswich, Toowoomba, the Lockyer Valley and Brisbane are on the tips of everyone’s tongues as shocking images beam around the country of towns ravaged by the rising waters, taking away lives and livelihoods.

Just over one year on and many are still in the process of rebuilding. But for those who own small businesses, what has it meant to have been closed for part, if not all of 2011? How are small businesses recovering from the massive losses they’ve suffered?

The Waters Rise

Susan Wanmer, of microbusinesses Milton Yoga Studio, Work Life Balance and Susan Wanmer Consultancy, was running a yoga bootcamp on the morning of 11 January, not knowing that the floods that had already hit other Queensland communities would soon affect Brisbane. “My students were joking about how much it was raining,” Wanmer says. “They said they’d bring their buckets when they came in tomorrow.”

At about 3pm, while Wanmer and her students were still in their lesson, Wanmer’s daughter interrupted the class. “At work I don’t have a radio or TV so we didn’t know what was happening. My daughter said ‘mum get your clients out, there’s water in the street’.”

After living through the 1974 floods, Wanmer assessed how long they had to evacuate while her clients packed their cars with items from the business. After everyone left, Wanmer, her husband, daughter and some of her daughter’s friends got to work taking out as much as they could. “By this time the water was about 150 metres from the door and the street was mostly deserted. Surveyors at Suncorp Stadium across the way came and showed me where they predicted the flood peak to be. They thought it would be a foot of water.”

Her family spent the rest of the night preparing, putting things up high and trying to save her large professional library. “Other clients came about one in the morning and helped take things away. I heard later they were stopped by police because someone thought they were looting. They were in their jammies, with their arms full of goodies.”

Prioritising items to be saved in the midst of the panic was the most difficult thing. “My first thought was getting my books out, I didn’t even think about the computer,” Wanmer says.

Bree Robbins, Top Dog at Paddington Pups, a doggy daycare also in Brisbane, had precious cargo to take care of when she heard the floods were coming. “By 11am on Tuesday I made the decision to evacuate. We had 50 dogs on premises plus all my staff. That’s a lot of people and animals that required safety and care,” Robbins explains.

Despite the chaos, Robbins’ emergency action plan worked smoothly. “I have a database management system that allows us to track dogs coming in and out and get in contact with the owners really easily. Had I not had those it could have been a lot worse.

“We managed to evacuate all the dogs and most staff in an hour, which was really great. Then we lifted everything about a metre off the ground thinking that would be fine.”

Surveying the Damage

Despite local predictions that the water wouldn’t rise too much, both Wanmer and Robbins came back to find their businesses had been completely ravaged.

“The water went to the top of the doorway,” Wanmer explains. “It went halfway up a street sign outside.”

Robbins didn’t fare much better. “The floodwater receded Friday morning. I couldn’t get in because the power was out and the back door was jammed with debris. I had to wait until the café nextdoor came so that I could climb through the hole where their industrial freezer had pushed through our wall.”

The Hon. Jan Jarratt, Minister for Tourism, Manufacturing and Small Business in Queensland, says that one in five businesses temporarily closed as a result of the floods, “due to full or partial water inundation, loss of power or being cut off from their business.” An added 22 percent indicated that the floods had a major to critical impact on their business.

“I had 20 years of work, all of my reference materials, and a lot of very expensive computer programs; we lost everything,” says Amanda Foy, who owns Foyster’s Communications in Ipswich. She was on holidays when she heard that her business would flood. “I rang a friend an hour before the place had seven foot of water in it so she could grab my portable hard drive. That was all I could think of.”

Even more devastating for Foy was that they were completely unable to salvage anything that had been damaged. “We had a sewerage plant just over the road. It also went under so all our stuff was coated in mud and poo. I tried to make light of it; I’d say the universe has coated it in poo so I mustn’t have needed it. It’s interesting though, as soon as you don’t have a printer, notepad or even pens, you realise you take so much for granted.”

Julia Gillard may have retained the Prime Ministership in this week’s leadership ballot, but business experts say women with leadership aspirations can take away some valuable lessons about what not to do when it comes to leading from the PM’s time in office.

According to business expert and Women Who Lead program member Margot Halbert, Gillard is the perfect example of what not to do when it comes to Australian women leading in the senior ranks of government and big business in Australia.

“While she’s managed to hold on to the top job we can still learn from the leadership challenge and how she’s handled her time as Prime Minister. In particular, we’ve learned about the importance of making time to manage key relationships as well as getting on with the job,” she said.

Halbert said Gillard has been too concerned with “getting on with good policy”, rather than letting her human side show and building a trusting relationship with the Australian public.

“She never built trust… We never felt like we knew Ms Gillard and there was always a question about whether she could be trusted, given the manner in which she came into the role,” she said.

“People want to feel like they know their leaders and can trust them,” she added.

Here’s some of the leadership lessons Halbert says women can learn from the PM:

• Prioritise time for key relationships:
  Gillard suffered from thinking getting on with the job was enough. Leaders must make time to develop authentic relationships with their key customers, suppliers and employees.
• Be courageous enough to reveal the real you:
  If those you are trying to influence the most don’t really know who you are as a person, you will never succeed. The ability to demonstrate your values, ethics and emotion can be a real asset.
• Authentic leadership is absolutely necessary:
  The world’s best leaders are those we know will stand up for what they hold dear, regardless of opinion polls.
• As a woman it’s okay to be a feminine leader:
  One of Gillard’s biggest downfalls has been that she’s displayed very little warmth and empathy and many have commented that she dresses and speaks in a masculine manner. There is great power in being feminine in a male dominated world.
• To be ultimately successful you must be true to yourself:
  Many women try to be something that others want them to be. The greatest power comes being yourself.

According to Halbert, Gillard was applauded after her performance at a press conference last week when Kevin Rudd first resigned as Foreign Minister, “because it’s one of the first times she presented passionately and spoke with conviction.”

“She has clearly shown this side of herself to her own party where she has earned their trust and confidence. She hasn’t done the same with the Australian people, which was Mr Rudd’s strength,” she added.

The initial running of Carman’s was a juggling act for Creswell, as she balanced finishing her university degree with building a business. She excelled at it though, and within two years she’d bought out partner Manya van Aken (Carman’s is an amalgamation of their names) and was running the business solely under her vision.

Becoming a recognisable brand and large exporter didn’t happen overnight though, with Creswell putting a great deal of time and effort into creating a well systemised business renowned for making products with only the best local ingredients.

Creswell’s also become a much-sought after employer by building a strong company culture that rewards employees who live up to her company values.

This cereal entrepreneur shares her secrets to attracting and retaining the best talent in this week’s Friday Entrepreneur Fix.

How have you built a great company culture?

I think culture is so important to a business. We do a range of things, for example our five company values are stuck up behind every toilet door in the building and every Friday afternoon we all sit down and nominate one person who has best lived the company values that week, and the winner gets two gold class tickets.

We also have office nannies who come and make our tea and coffee and cut up fruit and salad to make sure we’re all eating healthily. We have someone who comes and washes the cars every second Friday and we also have something called POQ (“piss-off quick,”) which means once every fortnight you can leave two hours early if you’ve got less than 10 emails in your office. We also have an office library where I arrange copies of any book or movie I’ve enjoyed to be stocked there for employees to take home.

It really comes down to my employees though, I can only do so much to build great culture, they also need to meet me half way!

What drove you to take the risk and start your own business?

I was 18, so it was more about buying myself a job at that stage! I’ve always been quite good at recognising opportunities and being able to push myself to not be too conservative and try things that might be a little bit out there.

My share of the business initially cost $1000, so it wasn’t really a big, high-risk decision for me. It was hugely exciting, but I never thought I’d be still running it 20 years later and I never assumed the business would become as big as it has!

Carman’s has a strong reputation for using the finest Australian produce – how important do you think reputation and branding is for a small business?

A business has to have integrity. If you think about a brand you like, you want it to be genuine and not just built around good marketing. You don’t want to buy into a brand, get your hands on a product and be disappointed when it doesn’t live up to the marketing.

A small business needs to think about their point of difference, and it’s something I’m really passionate about. For us, it’s good-quality products. We don’t have a marketing or advertising budget and I often get in trouble here because I’m always trying to improve on our quality, which obviously costs more. But I’d rather put money into the Carman’s brand that way than by putting it into a marketing budget.

I just hope people see where we’re putting our dollars!

You’ve become a large exporter over the past few years, so do you have any words of wisdom for other entrepreneurs looking to move into exporting?

Try to keep the number of markets you focus on smaller, because it’s quite a lot of work to export.

For us, with 32 countries in different time zones and different currencies, it’s an enormous amount of work to do it properly. So it might be best to start with a similar time zone, like Asia, and try and choose a few of the better markets there, and once you’ve had a bit of success and know what you’re doing, then roll out to markets elsewhere.

Just don’t spread yourself too thin, or you won’t do a great job.