Small Business Stories - Susan Sobbott Video

Small Business Stories - Susan Sobbott

Susan: So my day started this morning early when I gave my three year old daughter, Lia, the choices to which dress she could wear to her first day of school. I must admit, I was really routing for the pink and brown butterfly dress with a crenalin under it, luckily she chose that one. So off to school we go, very first day, prompt and pretty at 9 am and we’re waiting in line to go in, of course, once we get to the front of the line and the teacher comes out and Lia realizes that I’m staying while she was going, she just decided that would not do. So literally kicking and screaming, she was carried y her new, very patient teacher into her classroom as I watched in horror. It was as if we never see each other again. Until 9:30 am when Lia tramp out of her classroom, yes class, this is only 30 minutes this morning, it’s Montessori, what can I tell you, and she was all smiles. Smiling, I hear, because the fish in the classroom made Lia determine that it was okay for her to be there and for mommy not to be. She decided that it was okay to be in school. So, as you might have gathered while I maybe the parent, Lia is the one who decides. As the presidential campaign kicks in, as we all know, it’s very, very fitting as Barbara said that this year’s conference theme is we decide. Decision 2008 is how all the media outlet said classified this campaign, and in fact we will decide a lot of things on November 4th. But we decide is about so much more than just having a voice, it’s about being in the game. As a voter, as a influencer, as a player, and most importantly, as a leader. We already know that we as women wield a tremendous amount of influence. Women have long been and continue to be behind 90 percent of all the purchasing power in this country. Over 10 million women own their own businesses and are growing as twice the rate of their male counterparts. The 18 million democratic voters in the primary who checks the box for Hillary, ended the days of people questioning whether a woman was qualified to run for president. And it seems like the McCain – Palin ticket is quickly becoming the PAlin – McCain ticket, due to Sarah’s popularity. We decide, is about becoming a force in driving the agenda for this country and for this country’s business. It is about leading from the front. One of its greatest assets is that in unites both sides of the aisle against a very common and popular cause. It’s not about being a republican or a democrat, it’s about being a leader. It’s about recognizing that women business owners are leaders who just happened to be women. The best part of my job at Opium, is that I got to work with business owners every day. I learned from great entrepreneurial leaders. Sure they’re smart, but they thought me that being smart is not the only thing required to be a successful leader. In fact scientific research would claim that less than 25 percent of success is actually driven by intelligence. In my experienced, success takes at least 3 things, resourcefulness, resilience, and most importantly focus. Take Garnett Newcom, she’s an open customer who has seen her business grow exponentially since 2006. Her leadership is distinguish by her resourcefulness. She looks for opportunity and potential in every situation and in every person around her. In fact she built her business base on that premise. Human potential consultants, it’s a job placement service for those battling all kinds of adversity. Her client Leroy, for example, spent 13 years in prison and as soon as he goes out he completed job training with Garnett’s firm, and is now earning 1500 dollars a week working in an oil refinery. Her mission is, and I quote “ helping save lives through employment”. Garnett provides talent and skills to employers by tapping into resources that are in tradition over looked. Just two years ago her company was happily grossing 400,000 in revenues. Garnett was working around the clock, and she thought she take a shot at something that caught her attention. She applied for the make mine a million dollar business program, which is designed to help women business owners grow their business to over a million dollars in revenues. That’s how we got to know Garnett, through her success in the M3 program. Since then, she has not look back. Her coaches suggested that she grow her business by getting an important new customer, the world’s largest purchaser of goods and services, otherwise known as the federal government. Garnett didn’t even know that she was eligible to apply for government contracts and today they are the driving force behind her business’ growth. She went from 10 employees to 80, from 400,000 dollars in revenue to over 18 million dollars in government contracts in only two years. 18 million dollars. Achieving this kind of growth, that Garnett has, certainly would be difficult in any, in good times, but more difficult in times such as this. The credit crime chaucin crisis and inflation as all of uis know who are in business and in the government, we know that this is a really a perfect storm. And in any economy, especially this one, successful leaders know that success requires resilience. Maureen Bortichello is a New Yorker, who’s company designs and creates trade shows displays for clients. And over the last few years, her company, Creative Display Solutions, has been growing exponentially. Her company’s revenue tripled in 2006, and grew by another 55 percent in 2007. The company got so big that Maureen relocated to a new 12000 square foot facility. Things were going great, except for 2008, where this weakening economy started to take its toll on her business. Especially among repeat customers, who represented about half of her revenues. Regular customers would buy new trade show displays every year, but this year they started putting off those purchases. And it was having a significant impact on Maureen’s bottom line. But she didn’t dwell on the problem, rather she put her energy against developing a solution. Instead of limiting her attention to the sales of new displays, she actually brought in to her focus and the result was a new line of business. Today her company rent and refurbishes trade show displays, something she never did before. So customers who might otherwise purchasing a new display are now spending to improve the existing ones. Its created a new revenue stream that has enabled Maureen to continue growing despite this economic cycle. Her resilience has help her navigate some pretty rough waters. Finally, successful leaders know that success depends on focus. They know what they are good at, they focus their energy somewhat they do best and they put others to work. I often hear women talk about their business as their baby, and just as it was with Lia and I this morning, when you lead a business it’s hard to let go. Like Theresa Daitner, she owns a construction management firm just outside the borders of DC. She is the mother of 6 children, and she was right in her household and her business. She of course, like all of us was attempting to do it all, but literally, and she couldn’t. Juggling home and the business is just wasn’t practical or healthy. It certainly wasn’t healthy for Theresa, and it wasn’t healthy for her business either. One day, Theresa had an epiphany, hire a baby sitter. Can you imagine? Mother of six, owner of a business. Hire a baby sitter. How obvious. But this was a huge step for Theresa and her business. Hiring someone to assist her on the home front allow her to focus on her business. And by getting the help she needed, she unleash the growth potential in that business which quickly crossed the million dollar revenue mark, and is thriving today, in 2008, here in the DC area, managing construction projects in this economy. Theresa now ends up giving more quality time as she might have imagined to her family, because when she’s there, she’s really there with her children. Being a successful leader is not about doing it all, women are naturally multi taskers, as a matter of fact, those inner feud recently and the reporter asked me if women need to learn how to multi task more. And I said, I don’t think so. It’s not about learning how to multi task, it’s learning how not to multi task, because focus is what gets us to where we need to go. Focus requires letting go of some things, and it requires other people to do them. It’s figuring out what only you can do best and getting everyone else to do the rest. Small business owners are among some of the most focus people I know. They are driven by the marriage, passion, and profit, which inspires their leadership of their companies, of their employees, of their communities. Leadership, and women are increasingly leading from the front. While Hillary would have held to the 18 million cracks in that glass ceiling, women have still hit a brick wall when it comes to doing business with the federal government. We all know that business growth will not wait for someone else to provide the opportunity to us. There will be no ladder that would be put up against that wall for us to climb over. Smashing through it requires women business owners to be resourceful, resilient, and focus. And that what it gives me five program that we’re so proud to partner with WIPP is all about. Out friend Garnett Newcom government contracting, obviously, into a tremendous advantage for her company, but she is the exception as you may all know. Women owned businesses are awarded only 3.4 percent of government contracts. That means 96.6 percent are going to someone else. We’ve decided that this must change. 7 years after legislation was passed creating the women’s government contracting program, 7 years, only 7. The SBA is now proposing narrowly define it’s scope. We’ve decided to take action. Give Me Five is a national program that is designed to educate women business owners on how to apply for and to secure federal contracts, so I will be here next year telling you lots of stories beyond that of Garnett. The name comes from the 5 percent federal contract goal for woman owned businesses, with Give Me Five, we can help address the under representation of women in government contracting. The government spends over 400 billion dollars, 400 billion dollars each year on federal contracts. And to be eligible to bid, women first need to be registered in the federal data base. As the saying goes, you’ve got to be in it to win it. Give Me Five will provide the information and guidance women need to navigate this registration process, the application process, and of course the selection process, and you might notice that you have booklets on your tables this evening, this is part of our program. To 2009, we hope to reach, we will reach 100,000 women business owners with this message resulting in thousands of women applying and registering on the federal data base. And it’s for a good reason, there is a lot at stake. According to a congressional report, women owned firms stands to realize additional revenues of 5 billion dollars if we hit the 5 percent allotment of government contracts. Now we call this program Give Me Five, but I must say, that 5 is not our aspiration. If we can help more women gain access to government contract opportunities, Give Me Five has the potential to be give me 10, 20, or 50 percent. Why? Because we have decided, we are in the game, and we are leading from the front, thank you very much.

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Susan: So my day started this morning early when I gave my three year old daughter, Lia, the choices to which dress she could wear to her first day of school. I must admit, I was really routing for the pink and brown butterfly dress with a crenalin under it, luckily she chose that one. So off to school we go, very first day, prompt and pretty at 9 am and we’re waiting in line to go in, of course, once we get to the front of the line and the teacher comes out and Lia realizes that I’m staying while she was going, she just decided that would not do. So literally kicking and screaming, she was carried y her new, very patient teacher into her classroom as I watched in horror. It was as if we never see each other again. Until 9:30 am when Lia tramp out of her classroom, yes class, this is only 30 minutes this morning, it’s Montessori, what can I tell you, and she was all smiles. Smiling, I hear, because the fish in the classroom made Lia determine that it was okay for her to be there and for mommy not to be. She decided that it was okay to be in school. So, as you might have gathered while I maybe the parent, Lia is the one who decides. As the presidential campaign kicks in, as we all know, it’s very, very fitting as Barbara said that this year’s conference theme is we decide. Decision 2008 is how all the media outlet said classified this campaign, and in fact we will decide a lot of things on November 4th. But we decide is about so much more than just having a voice, it’s about being in the game. As a voter, as a influencer, as a player, and most importantly, as a leader. We already know that we as women wield a tremendous amount of influence. Women have long been and continue to be behind 90 percent of all the purchasing power in this country. Over 10 million women own their own businesses and are growing as twice the rate of their male counterparts. The 18 million democratic voters in the primary who checks the box for Hillary, ended the days of people questioning whether a woman was qualified to run for president. And it seems like the McCain – Palin ticket is quickly becoming the PAlin – McCain ticket, due to Sarah’s popularity. We decide, is about becoming a force in driving the agenda for this country and for this country’s business. It is about leading from the front. One of its greatest assets is that in unites both sides of the aisle against a very common and popular cause. It’s not about being a republican or a democrat, it’s about being a leader. It’s about recognizing that women business owners are leaders who just happened to be women. The best part of my job at Opium, is that I got to work with business owners every day. I learned from great entrepreneurial leaders. Sure they’re smart, but they thought me that being smart is not the only thing required to be a successful leader. In fact scientific research would claim that less than 25 percent of success is actually driven by intelligence. In my experienced, success takes at least 3 things, resourcefulness, resilience, and most importantly focus. Take Garnett Newcom, she’s an open customer who has seen her business grow exponentially since 2006. Her leadership is distinguish by her resourcefulness. She looks for opportunity and potential in every situation and in every person around her. In fact she built her business base on that premise. Human potential consultants, it’s a job placement service for those battling all kinds of adversity. Her client Leroy, for example, spent 13 years in prison and as soon as he goes out he completed job training with Garnett’s firm, and is now earning 1500 dollars a week working in an oil refinery. Her mission is, and I quote “ helping save lives through employment”. Garnett provides talent and skills to employers by tapping into resources that are in tradition over looked. Just two years ago her company was happily grossing 400,000 in revenues. Garnett was working around the clock, and she thought she take a shot at something that caught her attention. She applied for the make mine a million dollar business program, which is designed to help women business owners grow their business to over a million dollars in revenues. That’s how we got to know Garnett, through her success in the M3 program. Since then, she has not look back. Her coaches suggested that she grow her business by getting an important new customer, the world’s largest purchaser of goods and services, otherwise known as the federal government. Garnett didn’t even know that she was eligible to apply for government contracts and today they are the driving force behind her business’ growth. She went from 10 employees to 80, from 400,000 dollars in revenue to over 18 million dollars in government contracts in only two years. 18 million dollars. Achieving this kind of growth, that Garnett has, certainly would be difficult in any, in good times, but more difficult in times such as this. The credit crime chaucin crisis and inflation as all of uis know who are in business and in the government, we know that this is a really a perfect storm. And in any economy, especially this one, successful leaders know that success requires resilience. Maureen Bortichello is a New Yorker, who’s company designs and creates trade shows displays for clients. And over the last few years, her company, Creative Display Solutions, has been growing exponentially. Her company’s revenue tripled in 2006, and grew by another 55 percent in 2007. The company got so big that Maureen relocated to a new 12000 square foot facility. Things were going great, except for 2008, where this weakening economy started to take its toll on her business. Especially among repeat customers, who represented about half of her revenues. Regular customers would buy new trade show displays every year, but this year they started putting off those purchases. And it was having a significant impact on Maureen’s bottom line. But she didn’t dwell on the problem, rather she put her energy against developing a solution. Instead of limiting her attention to the sales of new displays, she actually brought in to her focus and the result was a new line of business. Today her company rent and refurbishes trade show displays, something she never did before. So customers who might otherwise purchasing a new display are now spending to improve the existing ones. Its created a new revenue stream that has enabled Maureen to continue growing despite this economic cycle. Her resilience has help her navigate some pretty rough waters. Finally, successful leaders know that success depends on focus. They know what they are good at, they focus their energy somewhat they do best and they put others to work. I often hear women talk about their business as their baby, and just as it was with Lia and I this morning, when you lead a business it’s hard to let go. Like Theresa Daitner, she owns a construction management firm just outside the borders of DC. She is the mother of 6 children, and she was right in her household and her business. She of course, like all of us was attempting to do it all, but literally, and she couldn’t. Juggling home and the business is just wasn’t practical or healthy. It certainly wasn’t healthy for Theresa, and it wasn’t healthy for her business either. One day, Theresa had an epiphany, hire a baby sitter. Can you imagine? Mother of six, owner of a business. Hire a baby sitter. How obvious. But this was a huge step for Theresa and her business. Hiring someone to assist her on the home front allow her to focus on her business. And by getting the help she needed, she unleash the growth potential in that business which quickly crossed the million dollar revenue mark, and is thriving today, in 2008, here in the DC area, managing construction projects in this economy. Theresa now ends up giving more quality time as she might have imagined to her family, because when she’s there, she’s really there with her children. Being a successful leader is not about doing it all, women are naturally multi taskers, as a matter of fact, those inner feud recently and the reporter asked me if women need to learn how to multi task more. And I said, I don’t think so. It’s not about learning how to multi task, it’s learning how not to multi task, because focus is what gets us to where we need to go. Focus requires letting go of some things, and it requires other people to do them. It’s figuring out what only you can do best and getting everyone else to do the rest. Small business owners are among some of the most focus people I know. They are driven by the marriage, passion, and profit, which inspires their leadership of their companies, of their employees, of their communities. Leadership, and women are increasingly leading from the front. While Hillary would have held to the 18 million cracks in that glass ceiling, women have still hit a brick wall when it comes to doing business with the federal government. We all know that business growth will not wait for someone else to provide the opportunity to us. There will be no ladder that would be put up against that wall for us to climb over. Smashing through it requires women business owners to be resourceful, resilient, and focus. And that what it gives me five program that we’re so proud to partner with WIPP is all about. Out friend Garnett Newcom government contracting, obviously, into a tremendous advantage for her company, but she is the exception as you may all know. Women owned businesses are awarded only 3.4 percent of government contracts. That means 96.6 percent are going to someone else. We’ve decided that this must change. 7 years after legislation was passed creating the women’s government contracting program, 7 years, only 7. The SBA is now proposing narrowly define it’s scope. We’ve decided to take action. Give Me Five is a national program that is designed to educate women business owners on how to apply for and to secure federal contracts, so I will be here next year telling you lots of stories beyond that of Garnett. The name comes from the 5 percent federal contract goal for woman owned businesses, with Give Me Five, we can help address the under representation of women in government contracting. The government spends over 400 billion dollars, 400 billion dollars each year on federal contracts. And to be eligible to bid, women first need to be registered in the federal data base. As the saying goes, you’ve got to be in it to win it. Give Me Five will provide the information and guidance women need to navigate this registration process, the application process, and of course the selection process, and you might notice that you have booklets on your tables this evening, this is part of our program. To 2009, we hope to reach, we will reach 100,000 women business owners with this message resulting in thousands of women applying and registering on the federal data base. And it’s for a good reason, there is a lot at stake. According to a congressional report, women owned firms stands to realize additional revenues of 5 billion dollars if we hit the 5 percent allotment of government contracts. Now we call this program Give Me Five, but I must say, that 5 is not our aspiration. If we can help more women gain access to government contract opportunities, Give Me Five has the potential to be give me 10, 20, or 50 percent. Why? Because we have decided, we are in the game, and we are leading from the front, thank you very much.

Transcription by: Scribe4you Transcription Services