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Everything You Need to Know from Our wegginar® with Cristina Bandal

This past Wednesday, wegg® had the pleasure of hosting the Industry Segment Manager of Retail and Consumer Goods for UPS, Cristina Bandal. Bandal lead one of our free online wegginars®, which provide monthly, accessible education to women entrepreneurs everywhere. Bandal’s talk covered how to overcome the obstacles that people face when trying to sell their products to the global market. She also answered the questions of wegginar® participants. Read their inquiries, and her responses, below:

What’s the single biggest challenge on why people don’t setup an online storefront? Setting up an international store may sound complicated if you are thinking of creating a country site – but with only a few enhancements, you can make international customers feel at home.
What are your thoughts on how to factor in taxes, (shipping and duty), to price my products profitably, yet make them affordable to my customers? With the solution available, your catalogue will provide the information needed to calculate a duty and tax, and offer a landed cost to your customers (and protect you from abandoned goods!)
How does our current trade war with China impact the information presented in this wegginar®? Whatever tariff regulations are passed are updated to protect the shipments.
Is there a way to target one foreign market when I launch my e-commerce site so that I can test the waters? YES!! You can choose what countries to target.
What’s the best way to setup a payment method, in your own currency or the customer’s? International consumers would like to see their own currency to avoid surprises. By using the UPS i-parcel solution, you are protected by allowing transactions to be processed through UPS, and provide fraud protection.

To read Bandal’s extended answers to these questions, and more, you can view the full presentation (PDF) from the wegginar®, here. wegg® was honored to have Bandal share her experience and knowledge with us.

If you were not able to participate in this month’s wegginar®, we already have registration open for our 12/5 talk with Andrew Molinsky, Ph.D. He will talk about how, “if you are not outside your comfort zone, you won’t learn anything.” Register here.

Girlboss to Launch New Social Network for Young Women Entrepreneurs

Published October 29, 2018 Announcement , Apps , Branding , Business Development , Capital (working) , e-commerce , Education , emerging markets , Enlighten Me! , Equality , global women entrepreneurs , Innovation , Inspiration , Leadership , Mobile , Networking , Social Entrepreneurship , Social Media and Network , Startup , Technology , Web globalization , Young entrepreneurship Leave a Comment
Tags: girlboss, Networking, Social Media, social networking, women business owners, women entrepreneurs, women entrepreneurship, women in business, women's empowerment, women-owned businesses, young women entrepreneurs

A recent Wall Street Journal article reports that, “Girlboss, a media company targeting women entrepreneurs, plans to introduce a paid, professional social-networking site called Girlboss Collective in January.” This new platform will be structured for the ever evolving career paths of millennial women, with profiles highlighting users’ character as opposed to work experience.

GirlBoss Collective will, “fit the professional networking needs of young women, many of whom have multiple part-time jobs or career gaps that look out of place on a traditional résumé. Girlboss Collective is being designed with women in mind, although it will be open to people of any gender, the company said.”

Membership for the site will reportedly be less than $15 a month, and users will have access to video footage of notable female speakers in high offices of various industries.

The WSJ article goes on to detail,

“Ms. Amoruso envisions a community of subscribers helping one another on professional matters both trivial and large, from negotiating raises to finding an intellectual property attorney in their area….Girlboss has prototyped the concept of its private social network with a Facebook group called “Girlboss Gang” that has more than 5,700 members, Ms. Amoruso added. She said more than 15,000 users are already on a wait list to join Girlboss Collective, which will be an invite-only, U.S.-based network in its testing phase.”

Everyone here at wegg® is excited by the mission of Girlboss Collective, and we hope to partner with Amoruso and her company in the future. wegg® knows that the key to female entrepreneurial success is connecting with each other, to build an unstoppable global network.

wegg® keeps energizing women entrepreneurs the world over. We can help you build confidence, find great resources and show you the steps you can take to go global. Join us for our FREE wegginar® on 11/7 with Cristina Bandal. You can find all of the details, and register for the event, here.

Meet Bob Marovich, wegg® Director of Development

Published October 22, 2018 Conference , Education , Enlighten Me! , Exhibitions , Leadership , Marketing , wegg event , wegg supporter Leave a Comment
Tags: Bob Marovich, director of development, Global Small Business Forum, vendor table, WEGG, wegg director of development

Bob Marovich, Director of Development, wegg®, is one mighty talented individual. He has spent three decades in nonprofit fund development for colleges and universities, secondary schools, museums, public broadcasters, animal welfare agencies, social service agencies, out-of-school programs, and healthcare. His skills include grantwriting, annual fund, major and planned giving, and strategic planning.

Beyond wegg fund development, Bob is also a gifted author. He has written about and reviewed classic and contemporary gospel music since the mid-1990s. His book, “A City Called Heaven,” received the Certificate of Merit for Best Historical Research in Recorded Blues, Gospel, Soul, or R&B, Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC), 2016.

If that is not enough, he also is an award-winning radio host through “Gospel Memories” on Chicago’s WLUW 88.7 FM and founder and editor-in-chief of The Journal of Gospel Music, http://www.journalofgospelmusic.com.

Bob holds a bachelor’s degree in American Studies from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from the Lake Forest Graduate School of Management.

Needless to say we are lucky to have Bob on board with us! The photo above is Bob seated at the vendor table (before the show opened) at the 4th Annual Global Small Business Forum held in Chicago on Friday, October 19, 2018. wegg was a partner at the event and it was the first time we reserved a vendor table at a global business event.

Make Your Global Online Shoppers Feel at Home Wherever They Are

Published October 15, 2018 Announcement , Business Development , e-commerce , Economic growth , Email marketing , Enlighten Me! , Exporting , Foreign office setup , global branding , Global trade , global women entrepreneurs , How-to , Importing , Innovation , Inspiration , International business , Logistics/transportation , Management , Manufacturing , Mobile , Networking , Outsourcing , Risks , Sales & Distribution , Scaling a business , Social Media and Network , Strategy , Technology , Training (entrepreneurial) , Transportation , Trends , Web globalization , wegg event , wegginar , World entrepreneurship , World Travel Leave a Comment
Tags: Cristina Bandal, Education, free, free education, free event, free resources, global online presence, go global, online shopping, shopping, small business online community, Technology, trade resources, UPS, WEGG, wegginar, women around the world, women business owners, women entrepreneurs, women entrepreneurship, women in business, women's empowerment, women-owned businesses

Registration is still open for our FREE November 7th, 2018 wegginar®, with presenter Cristina Bandal, Industry Segment Manager of Retail and Consumer Goods for UPS.

Cristina has an extensive career with UPS, working within the marketing functions. She has worked with merchants in the retail and high tech industries. Cristina makes customer experiences valuable, by improving the shopper’s experiences. Her most recent assignment helps enable merchants to sell outside the US through UPS technology.

If 95% of the worlds population lives outside the US, why are some merchants still only selling to the domestic market? Complex rules, costly risks and high transportation costs make it difficult for small businesses to merge into new markets. UPS i-parcel not only offers a solution to these merchants, but provides a frictionless experience to international consumers.

wegginar® participants can expect to learn how to…

Offer international consumers the same shopping experience on your website that you offer to shoppers in the US.
Avoid complicated and costly international shipping that will ultimately improve your conversion rate.
Enable new international markets with just a click and reach a world of consumers.
Make your online shoppers feel at home anywhere

wegg® aims to make resources for going global accessible to all women entrepreneurs, and our wegginars® are free thanks to our sponsors. To register for the event, visit this link: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/8810009934736118275

Female Entrepreneurs Are the Engine of Global Growth

Published October 8, 2018 Economic growth , Education , Enlighten Me! , Equality , Gender challenges , Global trade , global women entrepreneurs Leave a Comment
Tags: be their own bosses, beyond borders, Exporting, female entrepreneurs, global growth, global women entrepreneurs, wegg®, women business owners, women entrepreneurs energize economies, women will conquer the world

Bonnie Chui, contributor for Forbes, writes a thoughtful piece about how female entrepreneurs are going global and that new policy attention may close the gap. At wegg®, we are closing that gap — whether there is new policy attention or not.

We not only serve women entrepreneurs by educating them on how to go global, we are women entrepreneurs, and through our educational efforts, we continue to energize economies worldwide.

Further, based on my experience running a successful global business and serving as a consultant to countless global women business owners, my observations indicate that women entrepreneurs must condition themselves to be risk oriented, innovative, and proactive (RIP) in order to achieve any reasonable level of success in the export marketplace.

Like everyone else, they must also achieve five things before venturing out beyond borders:

Becoming ready mentally, particularly emotionally
Being ready operationally
Having run a successful local business
Knowing how to use the latest technology
Having a business with export potential.

Also, in my view, a perceived lack of credibility is the number one barrier for women doing business globally. This perceived deficiency lack makes it difficult for women to access markets, market information, and establish relationships. If you don’t already have an influential person in your life who can tout your capabilities, find one and cultivate the relationship, or just reach out to wegg.

Most of the above referenced facts are covered in my Exporting: The Definitive Guide to Selling Abroad Profitably, Chapter 27, “Women Business Owners: Engine of Global Growth.”

Let’s face it, women launch businesses for the same reasons men do — to build wealth, to capitalize on their ideas and to be their own bosses.

Oftentimes you must learn about starting a business and taking it global the hard way — by doing it — and getting assistance from programs such as wegg’s helps enormously.

Female entrepreneurs are the engine of global growth and with appropriate support, will conquer the world. Just you watch.

The Rise of Women ‘Millennipreneurs’

Published October 1, 2018 Announcement , Business Development , Capital (working) , Economic growth , Education , emerging markets , Enlighten Me! , Equality , Event , Gender challenges , global women entrepreneurs , Leadership , Miscellaneous , Social Entrepreneurship , Trends , wegg event , wegginar , Young entrepreneurship Leave a Comment
Tags: train and support young women, WEGG, wegginar, women, women business owners, women entrepreneurs, women entrepreneurship, women exporters, women in business, women in the workplace, women's economic impact, women's empowerment, women's issues, women's rights, women-owned businesses, young entrepreneurs, young women entrepreneurs, youth business

The Female Entrepreneurs Institute has reported that there is a new generation of wildly successful business owners, who are all under thirty-five years of age. The ‘millennipreneur’ model of business has proven to be advantageous worldwide. The Institute explains,

“[This new] approach to business differs from that of their elders in terms of their ambitions, results and leadership style. Among the successful business owning millennials studied in this research, some 78% come from families with a history of running their own businesses. As a group, each has already established on average 7.7 companies, compared with an average of 3.5 among the 50-and-over Baby Boomers.”

A contemporary and forward-thinking entrepreneurship can be seen in this new generation’s most lucrative areas of business. The top three sectors of wealth for millennipreneurs were listed as: retail (12.5%), professional services (8.5%), and technology (7.3%).

This new generation of business owners has paved a way for women business owners, specifically. The proof is in the numbers…

“89% of women entrepreneurs surveyed expecting growing or stable profits in the next 12 months. Female millennipreneurs are aiming even higher with close to 75% expecting business profits to increase in the next 12 months…”

wegg® knows that the future of entrepreneurship is women entrepreneurship. We can help you start your business, or show you the steps you can take to go global. Join us for our FREE wegginar® on 10/3 with Katie Kollhoff, founder and CEO, NUMiX. You can find all of the details, and register for the event, here.

President and CEO Julie Smolyansky on “Following Your Gut”

Published September 17, 2018 Business Development , Culture , Economic growth , Education , Enlighten Me! , Equality , Event , global branding , Global trade , global women entrepreneurs , Innovation , Inspiration , International business , Leadership , Sales & Distribution , wegg supporter , wegg workshop , wegginar , Working abroad , World entrepreneurship Leave a Comment
Tags: business mentoring, ceo, follow your gut, go global, lifeway, lifeway kefir, risk taking, WEGG, wegg workshop, wegginar, women business owners, women entrepreneurs, women entrepreneurs grow global, women in business

This past Wednesday September 12th, President and CEO of Lifeway Kefir, Julie Smolyansky lead a wegg® workshop about the importance of following your gut on business and personal endeavors. Her inspiring talk covered the journey of Lifeway beginning in her parent’s basement, in the mid-eighties, when they began making Kefir, a food inspired by their home country, the former Soviet Union. It is now a $120 million publicly-traded company, thanks to Julie. She grew Lifeway to the size it is now, without a business degree, and became CEO at age 27, when her father suddenly passed away. Smolyansky shared the story of how one of her father’s friends reacted when he died and she was made CEO…

“[He said] ‘forget it, the company is done. Sell all of your stock tomorrow. There’s no way a 27 year old girl could run a company.’ This is done. Lifeway is over…I go into the office Monday morning…and everyone had sold their stock….It was devastating…[I] picked my head up and moved forward. Then, we had 70 people, today we have 320. We’ve grown our business from 12 million to 120 million…We continued to execute on the strategy we believed in, and continued to follow our gut, and worked really really hard….That man who said ‘she’s never gonna do it,’…I literally think about him every day. I say ‘thank you’, ‘thank you so much for underestimating me, for pissing me off, and making me angry…You gave me the fuel to move forward.”

Smolyansky went on to describe how being a young CEO became a strength for her. She followed her gut and made Lifeway one of the first businesses ever to have an active social media presence. She explained, “We were ahead of the game…Vogue called us ‘avant garde’ for being on social media.”

She also shared her beliefs on the importance of female entrepreneurship,

“If women were employed at the same rates as men, we know the global GDP would rise exponentially…That I think is really important. A rising tide raises all ships, and when women create jobs, an entire community is more safe and stable….Women are the key to saving the world…Entrepreneurship…can heal the world.”

Other inspiring takeaways from Smolyansky’s talk…

Keep moving ahead no matter what your challenges are in life.
Make a big impact: it only takes one person one step at a time to change the world.
Follow your gut (we should all listen to our intuition on important matters in life).

Thank you to Julie, and her team, Justine and Maria, for making our on-the-ground wegg® workshop a success. And thank you to Bank of America, Moji Eagan and Aneta Mazur, for hosting us.

If you were not able to make this wegg® workshop, we are having a wegginar® on Wednesday, October 3rd with Katie Kollhoff, CEO, NUMIX. She’ll present on “Small Startup, Big Impact.” Thanks to our sponsors, IBM, UPS, Bank of America and GlobalCare Clinical Trials, the program is no charge but you must register to attend, here.

Women Entrepreneurship in the EU: The Numbers

Published September 3, 2018 Business Development , Economic growth , Enlighten Me! , Equality , Gender challenges , Global news , global women entrepreneurs , Innovation , Inspiration , International business , Micro-enterprises , Trends , World entrepreneurship Leave a Comment
Tags: entrepreneur, european union, female entrepreneurs, resources for women, small business ownership, Small Business Trends, statistics, women around the world, women business owners, women entrepreneurs, women entrepreneurship, women in business, women in business statistics, women's issues

Screen Shot 2018-08-30 at 11.30.14 AM

On a global scale, women are less likely than men to start their own businesses. This is evident from the above graph, taken from the “Policy Brief on Women’s Entrepreneurship.” The data shows that in every EU country, from 2010-14, there were significantly less female owners of new businesses, than male.

Why is this the reality?

The OECD SME and Entrepreneurship analysis proposes that a:

“…key factor in explaining the gender gap is the social and institutional context [of the countries]. Paradoxically, national-level gender equality is negatively associated with women’s self-employment choice compared to men’s (Klyver et. al., 2013), suggesting that gender equality policies in the labour market may cause women to prefer employment over self-employment (Nielsen et. al., 2010). Similarly, more supportive work-family institutions are associated with larger gender gaps in terms of business size, growth aspirations, innovativeness and use of technology. This appears to indicate that it is important to look beyond simple proportions of women and men entrepreneurs to the motivations and quality of the business, with the hypothesis that greater gender equality may improve good quality businesses and business creation based on positive choices by women, while reducing poorer quality business creation based on lack of choice.”

One of the economic reasons that women might choose employment over the entrepreneurial self-employed path, is that self-employed women make less money than self employed men, on average. This finding is displayed in the graphic below:

Screen Shot 2018-08-30 at 12.06.00 PM.png

Other factors, such as lack of resources and training for women in business, are consistently cited as justification for the lack of women entrepreneurs in the global . market. This apparent neglect of a business education for women is highlighted in the graph below:

Screen Shot 2018-08-30 at 11.25.46 AM.png

As displayed by the image, at least thirteen out of the twenty-two countries in the EU showed a significant gender gap in perceived accessibility to business training. This is where wegg™ can help. Our mission is to educate, inspire and nurture women business owners and entrepreneurs worldwide on how to go global so they can run healthier businesses and create a new future for themselves, their families and their community.

We provide monthly resources for women entrepreneurs to become educated on current business strategies in order to go global. If you are interested in entering business, or growing the business you already have, wegg™ can help you. Please check out our website, to discover possibilities you did not even know existed.

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JOIN us for our morning wegg™ workshop on September 12th and hosted by Bank of America (135 S. LaSalle Street, 44th Floor). Julie Smolyansky, President and CEO, Lifeway Foods, will present “Follow Your Gut,” covering:

How global factors influence company values and mission
Why we should empower women entrepreneurs around the world
How to channel inspiration from travel experiences into marketing initiatives

Tickets $40 ($20 for students); includes Continental Breakfast. To learn more and to register, visit: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/weggtm-workshop-follow-your-gut-presented-by-julie-smolyansky-tickets-48655708534
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Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global

Archive for the 'Enlighten Me!' Category

Meet Bob Marovich, wegg® Director of Development

Female Entrepreneurs Are the Engine of Global Growth

President and CEO Julie Smolyansky on “Following Your Gut”

Women Entrepreneurship in the EU: The Numbers

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World

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