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Women, Books and Business Issue No. 7
Women, Mentoring and Networking for Success
Tashaya Singleton
October 16, 2024
INSPIRATION
“ My mentor said ‘Let’s go do it,’ not ‘You go do it.’
How powerful when someone says, ‘Let’s!’”
-Jim Rohn
WOMEN
Women, Success and Mentorship
Mentorship can play a pivotal role in shaping the careers of women professionals. However, only 37% of women report having a mentor. This leaves many of women feeling unsupported and overwhelmed. Without a mentor, women can struggle to successfully navigate workplace challenges.
Mentors provides support by offering encouragement, constructive feedback, and actionable guidance to help women navigate obstacles and achieve their career goals. Whether it’s dealing with workplace dynamics, learning new skills, or overcoming industry-specific challenges, having a mentor provides a trusted resource to turn to. Mentors are particularly effective at helping women develop key leadership skills, boost their self-confidence, and take on new challenges with a sense of direction and purpose.
Mentorship comes in different forms, such as formal programs, informal relationships, and peer-to-peer mentoring. Each type of mentoring provides different but equally valuable benefits. Formal mentoring is often structured through workplace initiatives or professional organizations, while informal and peer-to-peer mentoring can develop naturally through networking or shared professional interests.
An effective mentor will help their mentees remain focused, push past doubts, and gain the insights needed to drive their career or businesses forward. Ultimately, mentorship can transform both a woman’s career and her life, by offering the clarity, confidence, and a supportive community which are needed to succeed. Whether you’re a rising professional or a business leader, having a mentor could be a key resource for growth, resilience, and achieving your full potential in both life and business.
LEADERSHIP & BUSINESS
Holiday Networking: Essential Etiquette Tips to Boost Your Business
As we are in the fourth quarter of the year, and the holiday season is almost here, this means it is time for us business professionals to prepare for what seems like an endless list of networking events. On this list, there will business events that we must attend, we should attend, we would like to attend, and even those we may dread having to attend. Also, keep in mind that approximately one-third of small businesses and over 70% of retailers, both online and brick-and-mortar, make the majority of their revenue during this time period, the fourth quarter, so effective business networking could be a game-changer for your business or career.
Here are a few business etiquette tips to help you leave a lasting positive impression and get the most out of this busy holiday networking season:
1. Project a professional image
2. Have a positive attitude
3. Be strategic – set goals and research the event
4. Stay off your telephone while networking
5. Follow up with your connections
Projecting a professional image is not just about looking good on the outside. Yes, dressing appropriately for the occasion and venue are a must, but carrying yourself with confidence, being respectful, as well as knowledgeable about your profession are also a key part of projecting a winning professional image.
Having a positive attitude makes a strong impression and can be contagious. It will help you fully engage in conversations, leading you to contribute ideas and show interest in others, which helps with making connections that last beyond the networking event.
Being strategic, when it comes to business networking can help you get the return on the investment of your time, that you desire, from the networking event. Being strategic means setting clear goals, researching the event, preparing and practicing your introduction (elevator pitch), as wells socializing outside your usual circle so you can learn about new opportunities and make valuable new contacts. Also remember to bring traditional business cards with you to hand out.
Staying off your telephone is a must when attending business networking events. Many of us use our telephone as a fall back for comfort or a distraction, and doing this at an event can make you appear to be disrespectful to the people you are conversing with, or at a minimum disengaged. If you pull out your telephone to exchange LinkedIn details, do it quickly and then put it away. Being attentive and engaging leaves people with lasting and positive professional impression of you.
Following up with your networking connections is a crucial step in networking, which many of us forget to do. After the event, send an email or LinkedIn message within 1 – 3 days, then connect again with a telephone call and meet for coffee, tea, or my favorite hot chocolate, to find out more about each other personally and professionally to see how you can collaborate or become referral partners. For those of us in sales we know, according to statistics, that it takes eight calls on a prospective customer to turn them into a client, so it shouldn’t be surprising that following up after networking would be key in making effective and lasting business connections as well.
By following these tips will help you demonstrate excellent business etiquette and position you as a professional worth knowing. So, remember whether you are attending a formal networking event or a casual holiday party, being strategic, engaging and respectful will ensure you leave a lasting, positive professional impression which will help in maximize your future business opportunities.
INSPIRATION
“Expand your network by one quality person a day, forever.”
-Mark Victor Hansen
BOOK OF THE MONTH
TeamWork by Natalie Dawson is our book of the month. Anyone who listens to my podcast, The Secrets of Earning Money Shows, knows that I talk about three topics – business, money and mindset- and in this book, by Natalie Dawson, clearly shows how they can positively and negatively impact a business. She lets us know right from the onset that if we, as business owners, are having people problems in our organization then it is our fault.
This may be a hard pill for some of us to swallow, but Natalie Dawson is 100% right, and she lays out a compelling case, in the book TeamWork, to support her claim. As a corporate trainer, I have frequently told business owners and managers that in order to create a training culture in their organization it must start with them, so the insight from TeamWork that a team problem starts with the business owner shouldn’t have surprised me.
In chapter one Natalie lets us business owners know that we must create a baseline for our organization by having a clear mission statement, vision statement, and core values. Also, it is not just enough to have them written down as the business owner we, and our employees, should memorize them, be able to recite them, and be in alignment with them. They – the mission statement, vision statement and core values – will serve as a filter for business decision-making and ensuring that our team members are in alignment with our organization and goals.
TeamWork makes it clear, that to have engaged team members a business must create a culture that makes it crystal clear to their team members how they fit into the plan, and how the business can help them achieve their personal, professional and financial goals. This can be done by creating an employee development system, including the use of team meetings and one-on-one meetings, as thoroughly presented in chapters 8 – 13.
Because approximately 80% of small businesses do not have any employees, some of us may feel the information in TeamWork does not apply to our business, but I’ve got a news flash for you it absolutely does. As a solopreneur, or a small business owner with no employees, we do still have team members which are the contractors we use for the fulfillment of our services and products, so many of the principles in TeamWork do apply to our businesses.
Even though our team members are not our employees, we still must help them achieve their personal, professional and financial goals while we are achieving our own business goals or discord may arise during business interaction, due to these team members not feeling like a win-win business relationship exists.
Also, when working with our team of independent contractors, vendors, and collaboration partners in business we should have shared values, know each other’s mission statement and have aligned visions which is critical in referring the right fit clients in order for our businesses to thrive together as we climb the mountain of business success, so it won’t be lonely at the top.
If you are ready to achieve your next level in business then the book TeamWork should be considered a must read, especially if you plan on selling your business in the future. I’ve added this book to my “working” reference library and expect to use it frequently to help get me and my business back on track.
Starting Monday October 21, 2024, Women, Books And Business will publish a daily spotlight issue featuring a women business owner in celebration of National Women’s Small Business Owner Month, so be sure to check your inbox.
If you would like help with moving forward in your business or finances, send an email to [email protected] with the subject “clarity” and we can get on a call.