NAWBO picks San Diego for national conference

If you've ever been to a local NAWBO meeting, you know first-hand that the room is always filled with lots of energy and inspiration. I've yet to leave a meeting without my head spinning with new ideas.  Now, imagine a national convention of women business owners!  It's about to happen.

The National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) has selected San Diego as the location for its annual conference that brings together women business owners (from startups to multi-million dollar enterprises). The conference, themed ACCESS, INFLUENCE and GROW will be held from August 31 through September 1 at the Manchester Grand Hyatt near the water in San Diego. (I've been to the hotel and I can tell you that you should book a spa treatment there. Divine!)

There'll be keynote speakers, breakout sessions, awards and honors bestowed and lots of time for networking and connecting. It should be both an enjoyable and productive event. If you're a SoCal WOB you should definitely make time to go.

Zuckerberg should have sold Facebook

Dear Mark,

Loved the movie "The Social Network" and I have tremendous respect for anyone that can create and grow a company as you have. But I think you missed your chance to sell Facebook at its high point and for the most money you could have gotten for it. Google is nipping at your heels with its soon-to-be-launched Google+ Project. I just checked out the pre-launch page and from what I see, Skype and Facebook may soon follow MySpace in a downward spiral of value.  And tapping Justin Timberlake as a spokesperson to keep Facebook "cool" is out -- he just acquired, along with Irvine, CA-based Specific Media, MySpace. It was a good buy, having dropped in value from more than $500 million (that's what Rupert Murdock spent when he bought it) to a steal at $35 million. An interesting spin, too, as Timberlake was in "The Social Network" as a key player in the development of Facebook.

Not only does Google+ offer some innovative tools (I can't wait to try Hangout), but it's fresh. The colors are new. The icons are new. The landing page that promotes the project has a free-form feel to it with randomly placed links.  It makes me feel creative just to look at it.

Bottom line is that it's fresh. All businesses need to remember that "fresh and new" is what keeps customers interested and coming back.  My first "real" boss and role model as a woman in business was Nordstrom's first female VP, Betsy Sanders. I remember listening to her during a meeting with her department managers. She mandated that they rotate their store merchandise as often as possible so that it looked fresh and new. Shoppers, she said, don't want to see the same old thing. So show them something new, even if it's the rounder with all the blouses that was in the back of the store, now moved to the front.  It's a lesson I'll always remember.

Maybe it's time for a Facebook makeover?

Get noticed. It can lead to great things.

In addition to blogging here at wobwire.com, I'm the editorial director for a portfolio of media brands published by Newport Beach-based Churm Media. Our flagship brand is OC METRO magazine, a business/lifestyle magazine that covers Orange County, CA. One of the things we're known for is our "list issues" that highlight groups of business people in specific categories. We've branded "The Hottest 25 People in Orange County," "20 Women to Watch," "40 Under 40," etc.  I have to tell you that when people submit nominations, the ones that stand out are those that have already been endorsed by a third party.  For example, if a woman is being submitted for consideration for our "20 Women to Watch" list and her accomplishments have already been noticed by other entities, we weigh that in our decision to include her. It validates her worth.

The problem is that you have to start somewhere and that first "hit" is often hard to come by. It's like getting your first job.  You likely need to have experience before you can be hired, but you can't get that experience until someone hires you.

So my suggestion is to just get started. Start submitting your information to media outlets and associations that recognize the accomplishments of women business owners. You'll be amazed at how one award, honor or editorial feature can lead to other things.

In a previous venture of mine, I had my product featured in Working Mother magazine. Shortly after that, I got a call from a writer at Business Week who wrote about me. That eventually led to a feature segment on NBC's "Today Show" where I was interviewed by Katie Couric.

So get started.  If you're a woman who owns a business with at least $1 million dollars for the last two years, Ernst & Young wants to know about you. Their program for high-potential women entrepreneurs could lead to great things. Thanks to Rachel Bondi, founder of Men Matter and an author and speaker, for sharing the information.