New Sponsor for the Women's Network

As of September, there will be a new sponsor for the women's network. I shall be continuing to do the work that I always have but not under the Clarity Marketing banner.

Instead, the sponsor will be Smart Women Ltd., a new venture that will widen the support that Nottingham's business women can give to each other and it's been created in responseto the things that networkers have been saying to me over the past year or so.

In the first instance, there's a free directory where we can all promote our businesses. The more women who sign up, the more effective it will be. So why not create your own free profile - just register at http://www.womengetsmart.co.uk/.

Stressed to Excess - And You Want More Success

Speaker: Karen Oehme, Loving Touch Therapies
Date: 26th September 2007
Time: 12.00noon - 2.00pm
Venue: VIEw from the top Gallery, Waterstone's Bridlesmith Gate, Nottingham, NG1 2GR
To book: Contact Francine Pickering on francine@womengetsmart.co.uk

Feminsation of the net

The Guardian reported yesterday that the typical web user is no longer the stereotypical male teenage geek. Rather, female web users are overtaking male users in key age brackets, including the 35-49 age group which comes as no surprise to me.

Part of this change is attributed to the increase in web sites that are seen to be relevant to women, in all aspects of their lives.

In business, the Everywoman website - http://www.everywoman.co.uk/ - has been around since 1999 so we have to regard them as trailblazers. But the ability of the web to cater for niche groups as well as the wider market has also seen the rise of the diverse likes of http://www.motheratwork.co.uk/, http://www.creativewomensnetwork.co.uk/, and http://www.onewomanbusiness.co.uk/, as well as sites that are not woman-specific but which are useful and appealing to types of business where female owners are common, such as home-working site http://www.enterprisenation.com/.

The web going local (as opposed to that old-fashioned idea that everyone should aspire to be perceived as a global empire because no one knows you're based in the back bedroom) is another trend that works well for women. Time for a gratuitous plug for Nottingham's Smart Women site - so why not check out http://www.womengetsmart.co.uk/?

Networking and business performance

Research from the University of Strathclyde, reported on the Prowess website sheds interesting light on differences between the way women and men network and the impact of these differences on business performance, in particular in relation to women's access to finance to support business growth.

The research identifies that male business owners tend to network more closely, building strong ties, whereas female business owners, compensate for their lower 'social capital' (derived from being, typically, younger, less experienced in their field, and less well-connected through past employment) by networking more widely and actively but, seemingly, in a manner less focused on the things that would help them to grow their businesses.

These things, of course, are never as clear cut as all that, with other factors affecting both networking styles and access to finance. But would this knowledge affect your networking strategy?

Awards for Business Women

I've been contacted by our friends at Everywoman to let me know that their annual Everywoman Awards are looking for nominations - closing date is 31 August.

Categories are:

• The Artemis Award for the most inspirational woman running a business who is aged 25 or under.
• The Demeter for the most inspirational woman running a business who is aged between 26 and 35.
• The Athena for the most inspirational woman running a business who is aged between 36 and 49.
• The Hera for the most inspirational woman running a business who is aged 50 or over.
• The NatWest everywoman which recognises the most passionate and dedicated woman business owner who the judges feel has overcome significant challenges to achieve outstanding business success. The award winner will be selected from the finalists of the four categories listed above.
• The everywoman Iris for the woman whose business growth and success has been greatly improved through successful implementation and use of IT & communications. The award winner will be selected from the finalists of the four categories.
  The Spirit of everywoman Award which honours one woman who has changed the landscape for women in business in the UK.

You can nominate yourself or a woman in business who you feel deserves that recognition. Perhaps we should have a winner from the Nottingham area this year - I'm sure there are plenty who would make excellent candidates.

More about entering these awards at www.everywoman.co.uk/everywomanAwards.